ILU  rt3'iL 


Hume  Ecenomics 

SANITATION 
IN  DAILY  LIFE 


ELLEN  H.  RICHARDS 


ELLEN  M,  BARTLETT 

Supervisor  Home  Economics 


SANITATION    IN    DAILY   LIFE 


One  of  the  most  difficult  sanitary  lessons  to  leam 
is  that  tolerance  of  evil  conditions  is  not  proof  that 
the  conditions  are  not  evil. 


"  Any  kind  of  training  is  far  more  effective  and  leaves 
more  permanent  impress  when  exerted  on  the  growing 
organism  than  when  brought  to  bear  on  the  adult." 

—  William  James,  "  Psychology" 


SANITATION 
IN    DAILY    LIFE 


BY 
ELLEN    H.    RICHARDS 

Instructor  in  Sanitary  Chemistry  in  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology 


WHITCOMB  &  BARROWS 
BOSTON   1907 


Copyright  1907 
BY  ELLEN  H.  RICHARDS 


THOMAS 


Composition  and   Electrotyping  by 

TODD,  14  BEACON  STREET,  BOSTON,  MASS. 


SANITATION    IN    DAILY    LIFE 


PROLOGUE 

SANITARY  science  teaches  that  mode  of  life  which 
promotes  health  and  efficiency. 

The  individual  is  one  of  a  community  influencing 
and  influenced  by  the  common  environment. 

Human  ecology  is  the  study  of  the  surroundings  of 
human  beings  in  the  effects  they  produce  on  the  lives 
of  men.  The  features  of  the  environment  are  natural, 
as  climate,  and  artificial,  produced  by  human  activity, 
as  noise,  dust,  poisonous  vapors,  vitiated  air,  dirty  water, 
and  unclean  food. 

The  study  of  this  environment  is  in  two  chief  lines: 

First,  what  is  often  called  municipal  housekeeping — 
the  co-operation  of  the  citizens  in  securing  clean  streets, 
the  suppression  of  nuisances,  abundant  water  supply, 
market  inspection,  etc. 

Second,  family  housekeeping.  The  healthful  home 
demands  a  management  of  the  house  which  shall  pro- 
mote vigorous  life  and  prevent  the  physical  deteriora- 
tion so  evident  under  modern  conditions. 

The  close  interrelation  of  these  two  parts  of  sani- 
tation should  be  borne  in  mind.  Even  if  a  man  has 
been  so  blessed  as  to  be  born  into  favorable  conditions, 

v 

2056952 


vi  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

he  must  nevertheless  face  the  problem  of  retaining  health 
and  strength  under  the  strain  of  modern  progress  and 
civilization.  Formerly  a  man's  occupation  in  the  fields 
and  woods  kept  him  in  health,  but  now  he  must  ordi- 
narily give  what  strength  he  has  to  his  occupation,  and 
rely  upon  other  sources  from  which  to  secure  a  healthy 
body.1  It  is  possible  to  understand  the  effect  that  is 
produced  by  unfavorable  environment,  if  we  compare 
the  difference  in  physical  stature  between  the  Scotch 
agricultural  worker  and  the  inhabitant  of  certain  manu- 
facturing towns  in  England.  There  is  an  average  of 
five  inches  in  height  and  thirty-one  pounds  in  weight  in 
favor  of  the  Scotchman.  H.  G.  Wells,  in  speaking  of  the 
responsibility  for  man's  physical  efficiency,  compares 
the  city  dweller  in  crowded  streets  and  tenements  with 
the  man  living  in  the  freer,  more  open  country,  and 
makes  the  difference  from  three  and  one-half  to  five 
inches  in  stature  and  from  twenty  to  thirty  pounds  in 
weight  in  favor  of  the  country  dweller.-  The  former 
belongs  to  the  physically  unfit  for  the  struggle  of  life. 

A  casual  observer  visiting  the  poorer  parts  of  one  of 
our  large  cities  must  necessarily  be  impressed  with  the 
stunted  appearance  of  the  children  on  the  streets. 

Since  physical  strength  and  power  have  always  been 
desired  by  man ;  and  since,  in  these  modern  days,  women 
wish  to  be  not  far  behind  their  brothers  in  endurance, 
the  facts  just  given  should  furnish  food  for  serious 
thought  as  to  the  means  of  acquiring  a  body  physically 

*D.  A.  Sargent,  "Health,  Strength,  and  Power." 

_  s 
2  "  Mankind  in  the  Making." 


Prologue  vii 

fit,  capable  of  securing  the  greatest  capacity  for  work 
and  for  play — for  life. 

Is  this  physical  fitness  and  consequent  mental  power 
so  good  a  thing,  so  desirable,  that  the  pupils  in  our 
schools  and  colleges  are  ready  to  give  their  attention  to 
habits  of  right  living  when  the  methods  of  acquiring 
these  habits  are  presented  to  them?  Is  it  worth  their 
while?  Let  the  habits  be  once  acquired,  then  the  atten- 
tion may  be  turned  in  other  directions.  It  has  been  said, 
"  Sow  a  habit  and  reap  a  character."  This  is  true  of  the 
physical  and  mental  as  of  the  moral.  Habits  become 
fixed.  It  is  necessary,  then,  that  they  be  good  habits. 
Right  habits  of  living  are  the  foundations  of  health  of 
body  and  mind. 

To  secure  and  maintain  a  safe  environment  there 
must  be  inculcated  habits  of  using  the  material  things 
in  daily  life  in  such  a  way  as  to  promote  and  not  to 
diminish  health.  Avoid  spitting  in  the  streets,  avoid 
throwing  refuse  on  the  sidewalk,  avoid  dust  and  bad  air 
in  the  house  and  sleeping  room,  etc. 

It  is,  however,  of  the  greatest  importance  that  every 
one  should  acquire  such  habits  of  belief  in  the  impor- 
tance of  this  material  environment  as  shall  lead  him  to 
insist  upon  sanitary  regulations,  and  to  see  that  they  are 
carried  out. 

What  touches  my  neighbor,  touches  me.  For  my 
sake,  and  for  his,  the  city  inspector  and  the  city  garbage 
cart  visit  us,  and  I  keep  my  premises  in  such  a  condition 
as  I  expect  him  to  strive  for. 

The  first  law  of  sanitation  requires  quick  removal 
and  destruction  of  all  wastes — of  things  done  with. 


viii  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

The  second  law  enjoins  such  use  of  the  air,  water, 
and  food  necessary  to  life  that  the  person  may  be  in  a 
state  of  health  and  efficiency. 

This  right  use  depends  so  largely  upon  habit  that  a 
great  portion  of  sanitary  teaching  must  be  given  to  in- 
culcating right  and  safe  ways  in  daily  life. 


CONTENTS 


SANITATION.     CLEANNESS 


II.  THE  CLEAN  CITY 9 

Human  Ecology  and  Environment  in  General.  Air. 
Dust.  Water.  Milk  Depots.  Streets.  Climate. 
Marshes.  Rubbish  Piles.  Disposal  of  Refuse.  Gar- 
bage. Cremation.  Pathways.  Public  Parks  and 
Squares.  Roads.  Streets.  Alleys.  Sidewalks.  Mar- 
kets and  Public  Supplies.  Butcher's  Cart. 

III.  THE  CLEAN  HOUSE 24 

Air.  Carbon  Dioxide.  Dust.  Moisture.  Tempera- 
ture. Water.  Milk.  Food.  School  Lunch.  Leaking 
Gas  Fixtures.  The  Clean  Schoolhouse.  Public  Gath- 
ering Places. 

IV.  HABITS  OF  CLEANLINESS 47 

Contagion.  Infection.  Disinfection.  Requirements 
for  Cleanliness.  Possible  Cleanliness  before  Ornament. 
Smooth  Surfaces.  Too  Much  Time  to  Keep  Dusted. 

V.  SANITARY  REGULATIONS 59 

In  City,  Village,  Town.  Are  They  Sufficient?  Are 
They  Enforced  ?  Educational  Inspection.  Women's 
Clubs.  Civic  and  Village  Improvement  Societies. 

VI.  IMMUNITY.     CONFIDENT  LIFE.     EUTHENICS  .        .        71 


CHAPTER    I 

SANITATION.      CLEANNESS 

"  Science  stands  .  .  .  holding  out  resources,  devices,  and 
remedies  we  are  too  stupid  to  use."  —  H.  G.  Wells. 

TO  be  clean  is  to  be  free  from  foreign  or  undesirable 
matter.  Dirt  is  not  always  dangerous,  but  it  is 
always  undesirable.  The  smouch  on  one's  nose,  the 
greasy  finger  marks  on  one's  book  are  foreign  matter. 
The  old  definition  of  dirt  is  "matter  in  the  wrong 
place."  We  do  not  avoid  the  man  who  has  been  deliv- 
ering charcoal  because  he  is  dangerous,  but  because  con- 
tact with  him  makes  work,  or  does  not  improve  our 
appearance.  If  we  meet  a  man  with  smallpox  or  a 
child  with,  scarlet  fever  we  shun  him  because  he  is  dan- 
gerous. His  skin  is  dirty  in  a  different  sense ;  it  carries 
little  organisms  which  will  grow  on  our  skins  if  once 
established  there,  so  that  we  shall  be  sick  and  perhaps 
die. 

We  forbid  the  man  with  tuberculosis,  or  the  child 
with  diphtheria,  to  spit  in  the  street,  or  to  touch  us,  or 
our  pencils,  or  books,  or  our  food,  because  the  little 
plants  which  have  made  him  diseased  will  grow  in  our 
own  throats  and  lungs  if  once  established  there.  We 
wish  to  keep  them  out,  just  as  we  wish  the  charcoal  man 
to  keep  away  from  us,  but  for  a  different  reason.  The 
person  with  a  contagion  like  smallpox  or  scarlet  fever, 
or  an  infectious  disease  like  diphtheria  or  typhoid  fever, 

i 


2  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

is  a  dangerous  person  because  he  carries  living  microbes 
which  we  do  not  wish  to  get  into  our  clean  bodies. 

There  are  many  kinds  of  tiny  organisms  doing  their 
wholesome  work  of  turning  waste  matter  into  useful 
substances,  true  sanitarians  obeying  the  first  law  of 
sanitation  to  get  rid  of  all  useless  matter.  Working  in 
all  refuse  heaps,  all  wet  gutters,  all  dirty  corners,  and 
on  all  damp,  dirty  clothes  are  these  tiny  organisms  which 
we  do  not  wish  to  have  on  our  faces,  or  in  our  throats 
or  noses.  When  these  are  dry  they  blow  about  the 
streets;  fill  houses,  cars,  shops;  settle  on  books,  desks, 
and  banisters.  They  are  wiped  up  by  warm,  moist 
hands,  which  carry  them  to  food,  mouth,  eyes,  noses. 
Soon  some  disease  may  set  in  because,  among  these 
microbes,  a  few  disease  germs  were  carried. 

One  of  the  best  instances  of  danger  in  dirt  is  that 
of  the  tetanus  bacillus  or  the  germ  that  causes  lockjaw. 
It  is  very  common  in  garden  dirt,  and  that  many  persons 
carry  it  on  the  unclean  skin  is  proved  by  the  frequency 
with  which  it  develops  in  cases  where  the  clothing  over 
the  injury  has  not  been  torn. 

In  fact,  one  never  can  tell  when  dust  is  what  is  often 
called  "clean  dirt"  and  when  it  is  dangerous;  therefore, 
avoid  all  dust.  Keep  the  mouth  shut  when  in  any  dusty 
place.  Alas!  all  places  are  dusty  if  one  could  only  real- 
ize it!  The  white  beam  of  the  search  light  at  night, 
the  stream  of  particles  seen  in  a  dark  room  when  a  beam 
of  sunlight  is  let  in,  show  us  now  and  then  what  is  there 
all  the  time. 

Sanitation  is  keeping  clean,  not  merely  cleaning  up 
and  disinfecting,  which  seems  to  be  the  common  idea. 


Sanitation.     Cleanness  3 

A  place  which  smells  of  chemicals  is  popularly  supposed 
to  be  sanitary.  The  really  healthful  spot  is  one  without 
odors  and  without  any  matter  out  of  place.  Personal 
cleanliness  takes  on  a  new  meaning  and  all  the  daily 
operations  of  the  house  and  school  and  city  are  elevated 
into  the  region  of  scientific  work,  done  according  to  well- 
known  laws.  Sweeping  and  cleaning  and  laundry  work 
are  all  processes  of  sanitation  and  not  mere  drudgery  im- 
posed by  tradition,  as  some  people  seem  to  think.  The 
experience  of  the  race  has  taught  a  practice,  the  reason 
for  which  science  is  only  now  explaining. 

Where  there  is  a  question  of  clean  hands,  clean  fin- 
ger nails,  clean  clothes,  or  clean  shoes,  one  should  never 
say  that  anything  is  too  much  trouble. 


1.  Darken  the  room  as   for  a  stereopticon  lecture 
and  allow  a  beam  of  sunlight,  or  electric  light,  to  enter 
through  a  small  orifice  in  as  nearly  horizontal  direction 
as  possible,  so  as  to  be  visible  across  at  least  half  the 
room.     The  more  dust  in  the  air,  the  brighter  will  be 
the  beam. 

Any  movement  of  the  audience,  stamping  on  the 
floor  or  brushing  of  clothes,  will  perceptibly  increase 
the  brightness  of  the  beam. 

2.  To  prove  that  this  dust  is  not  all  sand  or  soot, 
procure   from  the  bacteriologist  several  prepared  Petri 
dishes.     Place  one  on  the  desk,  or  table,  or  chair,  under 
this  beam  of  visible   dust.     Take  off  the  cover   for   3 
minutes  or  more,  replace  the  cover  and  set  away  at  room 


4  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

temperature  for  36  to  48  hours.  At  the  end  of  this 
time  numerous  colonies  will  have  spread  themselves  in 
the  stiff  jelly.  Numberless  variations  of  this  experiment 
will  occur  to  the  teacher. 

It  is  advisable  to  give  each  student  at  some  time,  if 
not  to  all  at  once,  two  prepared  dishes  to  take  home,  one 
to  be  exposed  when  the  room  chosen  has  been  quiet,  or 
thoroughly  cleaned,  at  least  2  hours  before,  and  one 
after  disturbance  has  "raised"  the  dust. 

3.  To  show  the  efficient  way  to  get  rid  of  dust, 
choose  a  suitable  room,  have  it  swept,  and  set  the  class 
the  experiment  of  dusting  it. with  (i)  a  feather  duster, 
and  (2)  a  dry  cloth,  as  janitors  and  housemaids  usually 
do  the  work.  Expose  prepared  dishes  at  the  end  of  10 
minutes,  half  an  hour,  i  hour,  2  hours.  (3)  The  same 
room  swept  in  the  same  manner  dusted  with  a  dampened 
duster,  not  a  wet  one.  Repeat  the  tests.  Keep  careful 
records,  when  possible  photographic  records. 

[To  show  how  dust  is  carried  on  hands,  a  finger 
print  made  on  a  Petri  dish,  or  a  swab  taken  from  the 
nose,  if  a  physician  or  bacteriologist  is  at  hand  to  ex- 
plain, will  give  a  culture  which  will  be  remembered 
always.] 

It  is  not  necessary  to  determine  the  names  of  the 
plants  growing  in  these  colonies.  The  purpose  of  the 
experiments  is  simply  to  prove  that  the  dry,  ordinarily 
invisible  dust  which  we  breathe  does  contain  living  or- 
ganisms and  possible  sources  of  harm. 

The  number  and  variety  of  the  experiments  to  be 
made  in  the  growth  of  dust  organisms  will  depend  upon 
the  individual  conditions  and  the  interest  of  the  pupils. 


Sanitation.     Cleanness  5 

The  aim  should  be  not  to  alarm  nor  merely  to  amuse, 
but  to  convince  the  pupils : 

That  cleanliness  is  a  scientifically  established  need. 

That  cleanliness  is  a  difficult  but  not  impossible  con- 
dition. 

That  it  is  easier  to  keep  clean  than  to  get  clean. 

That  hands  are  carriers  and  should  be  carefully 
guarded. 

It  is  not  intended  that  these  experiments  shall  be 
more  than  illustrative.  It  will  be  a  mistake  to  go  into 
the  bacteriologist's  department  and  attempt  to  make 
"cultures."  It  will  be  dangerous  to  deal  with  disease 
germs  in  a  general  lesson. 

The  experiments  should  be  kept  within  the  bounds  of 
illustration  of  the  principle  and  of  confirmation  of  the 
facts  stated.  Ocular  demonstration  is  a  great  fixative 
of  ideas. 

THE   DAMPENED  DUSTER 

Wring  out  a  towel,  or  any  piece  of  thick  cloth,  from 
clean  water ;  if  warm,  so  much  the  better.  Spread  this 
out  smoothly ;  on  it  place  the  cloths  to  be  used  as  dusters, 
four  to  six  thicknesses.  Roll  the  whole  compactly  and 
allow  to  remain  half  an  hour.  When  taken  out  the 
dusters  should  not  seem  wet;  if  they  are,  shake  out  and 
hang  up  a  few  minutes.  A  dampened  duster  is  one  that 
seems  dry  to  the  uninitiated. 

PETRI    DISHES 

It  is  a  saving  of  time  to  secure  from  a  bacteriologist 
the  prepared  jelly  to  use  in  the  sterilized  Petri  dishes, 


6  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

but  the  material  may  be  prepared  in  the  chemical  labora- 
tory or,  with  sufficient  care,  at  home. 

The  Petri  dishes  are  simply  flat  glass  dishes  of  con- 
venient size,  with  covers  of  thin  glass,  so  that  the  colonies 
of  germs  which  grow  in  the  transparent  medium  may  be 
seen  and  counted.  They  may  be  bought  at  a  supply 
store  for  bacteriological  apparatus,  and  after  using  may 
be  cleansed.  They  are  sterilized  for  further  use  by  bak- 
ing, as  follows :  Place  them,  with  covers  on,  in  a  pan  in  a 
cool  oven.  Slowly  raise  the  temperature  to  about  300°  F., 
a  temperature  for  baking  bread  or  for  yellowing  a  piece 
of  paper  in  half  a  minute;  open  the  door,  draw  the  pan 
to  the  front,  allow  the  temperature  to  cool  as  slowly  as 
it  was  raised,  to  avoid  the  cracking  of  the  glass.  When 
the  pan  is  cool  enough  to  take  up  with  the  bare  fingers, 
remove  to  a  table  and  allow  to  cool  to  room  tempera- 
ture; then  place  a  rubber  band  over  the  cover  and  dish 
and  set  away  for  use.  As  the  least  exposure  in  any 
place  is  liable  to  collect  dust,  the  cover  is  kept  on  the 
dish. 

To  prepare  a  stiff,  but  not  too  stiff,  transparent  me- 
dium in  which  germs  will  grow  has  been  the  study  of 
many  laboratories  for  many  years  and  improvements  are 
constantly  made. 

In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  the  organisms  are 
planted  in  nutritive  media  which  favor  their  rapid 
growth,  which  are  transparent,  and  are  solid  enough  to 
keep  the  different  individuals  apart  when  first  sown,  but 
which  permit  the  new  growth  to  form  clusters  or  colo- 
nies that  may  be  counted. 

Beef  broth  is  the  common  basis,  made  from  lean  beef, 


Sanitation.     Cleanness  7 

free  from  fat  and  gristle,  finely  minced,  soaked,  and 
finally  heated  in  water,  filtered  through  folds  of  muslin, 
cheese  cloth,  or  cotton  flannel  into  test  tubes  plugged 
with  cotton  wool  and  sterilized.  The  heat  penetrates 
readily  the  short  distance  required  in  the  test  tube. 

The  broth  is  stiffened  after  filtration  and  before  ster- 
ilization by  the  addition  of  gelatine,  100  grams  to  the 
liter,  or  by  agar,  a  seaweed  generally  obtained  in  dried 
strips  from  the  Japanese  market,  10  to  15  grams  per  liter. 
For  anaerobic  organisms  I  or  2  per  cent,  of  grape  sugar 
is  added  to  make  glucose  broth. 

The  Standard  Methods  of  the  American  Public 
Health  Association  will  be  found  in  Prescott  &  Wins- 
low's  "Elements  of  Water  Bacteriology."  In  brief,  pre- 
pared lean  beef  is  soaked  over  night  in  the  refrigerator, 
500  grams  (one  pound)  to  i  liter  of  water,  strained 
through  cotton  flannel,  the  other  ingredients  added,  the 
whole  sterilized  by  heating  over  boiling  water  or  steam 
for  30  minutes.  Filter  again  through  absorbent  cotton 
and  cotton  flannel  until  perfectly  clear,  then  prepare  the 
test  tubes  previously  cleaned  and  sterilized,  putting  5  c.c. 
into  each  tube  and  plugging  with  sterilized  absorbent 
cotton.  Since  there  has  been  unavoidable  exposure  to 
dusty  air  and  by  handling,  these  tubes  are  set  upright  in 
a  rack  and  sterilized  30  minutes  in  steam  on  three  suc- 
cessive days.  They  are  then  ready  to  store  in  the  ice 
chest  until  wanted. 

The  following  recipe  is  excellent  for  home  use  or  for 
rural  schools: 

"For  the  soil  take  the  following  recipe :  Chop  finely 
one-quarter  pound  of  lean,  juicy  beef.  Mix  this  with 


8  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

i  cup  of  warm  water.  Heat  in  double  boiler,  stirring 
often  until  water  in  water  pan  has  boiled  15  minutes. 
Remove  inner  dish,  place  directly  over  the  fire,  and  allow 
broth  to  boil  10  or  15  minutes.  Clean  by  straining 
through  two  or  more  thicknesses  of  cotton  flannel  wet  in 
cold  water.  Squeeze  the  meat  carefully  to  get  out  all  its 
juices  but  not  much  fat.  The  meat  is  acid,  therefore 
add  from  one-eighth  to  one-quarter  teaspoonful  of  bi- 
carbonate of  soda.  Replace  the  water  lost  through 
evaporation. 

"Moisten  3  heaping  tablespoonfuls  of  finely  divided 
gelatine  in  a  very  little  cold  water  and  add  to  the  boil- 
ing hot  broth.  When  the  gelatine  is  dissolved,  strain 
through  hot  flannel. 

"Put  3  or  4  tablespoonfuls  of  the  broth  into  each  of 
several  small  bottles.  Plug  the  mouth  of  each  with  a 
close  wad  of  cotton  wool,  or  tie  over  each  a  thick  mat 
of  the  same.  For  three  successive  days  place  the  bottles 
upright  on  a  piece  of  folded  cloth  in  a  pan  of  cold  water 
and  boil  them  15  minutes."  1 

1  Elliott,  "  Household  Bacteriology,"  Vol.  II.  Library  American 
School  of  Home  Economics. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   CLEAN   CITY 

"  We  suffer  from  disease  through  ignorance.     We  escape 
through  knowledge."  —  Benjamin  Ward  Richardson. 

THE  eagle  in  his  mountain  aerie  has  as  clean  a  home 
as  the  world  affords.  There  are  only  cosmic  dust, 
ashes  of  volcanoes,  pollen  from  trees,  with  now  and  then 
a  spore  of  some  moss  or  lichen  in  the  air  he  breathes. 
The  explorer  in  the  arctic  regions  never  "takes  cold,"  for 
there  are  no  germs  to  cause  the  catarrh. 

The  country  dweller  on  a  large  farm  need  not  breathe 
bad  air  if  he  would  live  out  of  doors  and  sleep  with  wide 
open  windows. 

But  the  city  dweller  is  at  the  mercy  of  the  careless 
habits  of  thousands  of  his  fellow-beings,  and  of  the  cease- 
less grinding  of  streets  into  powder,  and  of  dust  from  all 
things  subject  to  wear,  from  clothing  to  iron  rails.  An 
examination  of  the  air  of  the  New  York  subway  showed 
the  solid  dirt  sifted  from  it  to  contain  sixty  per  cent,  of 
iron  dust. 

As  long  as  we  must  go  to  and  fro  to  work,  to  school, 
to  shop,  we  are  subjected  to  the  city  ideal  of  cleanliness. 
We  should  be  helpless  If  it  was  not  possible  for  each  one 
of  us  to  have  a  voice  and  influence  in  community  life. 

Public  opinion  could  stop  the  sweeping  of  house, 
shop,  and  schoolhouse  dust  into  the  street,  could  de- 

9 


jo  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

mancl  suitable  receptacles  for  it,  and  could  insist  upon 
crematories  for  all  wastes. 

The  point  of  this  lesson  is:  each  should  do  his  share 
in  making  a  clean  city;  each  should  dispose  of  his  own 
wastes  in  a  manner  safe  not  only  for  himself,  but  for  his 
neighbor.  Then  only  has  he  a  right  to  insist  that  his 
neighbor  do  the  same. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  two-thirds  of  the  work  of  clean- 
ing up  is  needless  work,  and  so  in  itself  waste,  and  that 
the  danger  is  increased  tenfold  by  the  delay  in  getting 
rid  of  the  decomposing  materials. 

Observe  the  reprehensible  habit  of  tossing  banana 
skins,  lunch  papers,  envelopes,  into  the  street  or  onto  a 
vacant  lot.  Observe  the  rubbish  along  one  block  of  a 
city  street  or  one-quarter  mile  of  a  village  street,  or  in 
the  yard  of  a  farmhouse.  It  is  human  hands  that  cast 
away  used  things  to  the  peril  of  their  neighbors'  lives. 

A  social  conscience  must  be  developed  to  cause  each 
one  to  refrain  from  menacing  his  neighbor 

By  "the  clean  city"  is  meant  all  the  environment  com- 
mon to  the  community  and  beyond  individual  control. 
Climate  is  beyond  community  control  except  in  so  far  as 
very  limited  modification  of  dry  weather  may  be  made  by 
abundant  use  of  water.  We  must  bear  heat  and  cold, 
snow  and  fog,  in  the  place  in  which  we  find  ourselves. 
But  intelligent  man  need  not  suffer  if  he  will  learn  what 
the  different  conditions  require.  If  man  will  use  the 
knowledge  he  may  gain,  he  can  protect  himself  under 
nearly  all  circumstances. 

An  excellent  illustration  of  the  value  of  sanitation 
is  given  by  the  control  of  malaria  and  yellow  fever.  Not 


The  Clean  City  II 

many  years  ago  a  malarial  or  yellow  fever  country  was 
avoided  as  a  necessarily  dangerous  region.  Now  our 
men  are  living  in  health  and  comfort  in  several  such 
countries,  Cuba,  the  Philippines,  and  Panama.  A  certain 
kind  of  mosquito  was  found  to  be  a  carrier  of  disease, 
and  in  order  to  make  these  countries  inhabitable  the  au- 
thorities needed  only  to  combine  to  stop  the  breeding  of 
the  pests,  by  draining  marshes,  covering  pools  with  kero- 
sene, and  by  screening  houses  to  keep  out  the  strays. 

It  is  conclusively  proved  that  a  united  effort  to  exter- 
minate the  mosquito,  to  prevent  the  breeding  of  flies  by 
leaving  no  manure  piles  and  no  heaps  of  dirt,  to  get  rid 
of  fleas,  etc.,  may  improve  the  health  of  the  community 
in  a  marked  degree. 

Just  as  soon  as  the  taxpayer  realizes  the  saving  in 
money  by  the  lengthening  of  life  and  lessening  the  ex- 
pense involved  in  sickness,  he  will  be  willing  to  have 
money  used  by  public  authorities  for  these  purposes. 
To  repeat:  the  range  of  temperature,  humidity,  and  sun- 
shine is  independent  of  man.  Not  so,  however,  is  the 
presence  of  stagnant  pools  of  water  to  breed  mosquitoes, 
or  of  piles  of  rubbish  to  scatter  dust  and  breed  flies  and 
harbor  rats. 

For  all  common  pathways  of  the  community — roads, 
streets,  alleys,  and  sidewalks ;  for  all  public  buildings — 
city  halls  and  schoolhouses ;  for  all  places  frequented  by 
large  numbers — parks,  markets,  bathhouses,  boat  piers, 
railroad  stations,  street  cars  and  steam  cars,  the  com- 
munity must  be  responsible.  The  condition  of  these 
public  places  of  concourse  and  conveyance  reflects  the 
sanitary  standards  of  the  community.  A  stranger  may 


12 


Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 


tell  at  a  glance  how  far  in  the  scale  of  cleanliness  a  given 
town  has  risen.  The  village  store  and  post  office,  for 
instance,  are  good  evidence.  It  is  the  accumulated  waste 
of  the  many  that  makes  the  offensive  mass  and  convicts 
them  of  breaking  the  first  law  of  sanitation— quick  re- 
moval of  all  that  is  done  with. 

A  few  words  on  each  of  these  things  used  in  common 
by  all  the  people  of  a  locality  will  suggest  others  which 
may  be  followed  up.  Parks,  markets,  public  gathering 
places,  sidewalks,  public  pathways,  have  important  sani- 
tary effect  in  two  ways.  Dried  sputum,  excrement,  de- 
cayed food  or  refuse  may  be  lifted  by  the  wind  and 
scattered  over  a  radius  of  several  miles;  not  only  onto 
other  streets,  but  onto  the  roofs  of  houses  to  be  washed 
into  cisterns;  into  markets  to  fall  on  fruit  and  meats; 
into  the  windows  of  houses  to  be  breathed  by  the  inmates. 
When  such  material  is  wet  with  rain,  or  dampened 
by  the  watering  cart,  it  may  be  taken  up  as  mud  on  the 
shoes  of  the  passer  and  tracked  into  clean  stores,  school- 
houses,  etc. ;  or  it  may  be  collected  on  clothes  and  stock- 
ings, and  so  carried  into  sleeping  chambers  to  be  shaken 
out  of  the  window  into  the  air  breathed  by  persons  who 
have  not  been  out  of  the  clean  yard. 

For  these  and  other  reasons,  it  is  a  duty  of  the  whole 
community  to  protect  itself  by  insisting  on  clean  path- 
ways; and  a  duty  of  the  school  and  home  to  insist  that 
shoes  shall  be  cleaned  and  clothes  brushed  outside  their 
doors. 

In    parks    and    squares,   receptacles    for    all    waste 
should  be  provided,  and  the  frequenters  should  use  them. 
This  leads  to  the  disposal  of  the  great  accumulation 
of  waste  in  a  community, 


The  Clean  City  1 3 

The  wastes  to  be  disposed  of  may  be  roughly  grouped 
into  three  classes :  ashes  and  rubbish ;  garbage ;  sewage. 

The  ashes  and  rubbish,  broken  bottles,  paper,  tins, 
etc.,  are  not  in  themselves  dangerous,  but  they  collect 
germ-laden  dust  and  blow  about ;  or  they  hold  water  to 
breed  mosquitoes  and  are  unsightly.  They  may  be  used 
on  a  dump  for  filling,  if  they  do  not  there  blow  about 
and  collect  water.  Such  piles  are  usually  picked  over 
and  all  valuable  portions  saved.  If  this  is  done  at  once, 
and  if  such  rubbish  has  been  kept  clean  and  separate 
from  garbage  and  house  sweepings,  this  may  not  be 
harmful;  but  such  a  dump  is  usually  a  menace  to  the 
whole  neighborhood,  and  a  breeding  place  for  mosqui- 
toes. It  is  on  the  whole  a  doubtful  saving. 

Garbage  is  the  perishable  waste  of  kitchen  and 
market,  bits  of  raw  and  cooked  foods,  bones,  vegetables, 
withered  flowers.  The  contents  of  the  kitchen  middens 
of  the  archaeological  early  man  were  of  this  character. 
When  the  heap  overtopped  it  he  moved  his  hut.  Modern 
man  keeps  his  house  in  the  same  spot,  and  sends  the 
refuse  off  in  a  cart  to  the  farmer  to  feed  pigs,  or  dumps 
it  in  the  sea. 

Because  it  is  perishable,  it  is  food  for  bacilli  and  a 
home  of  bad  smells.  Perhaps  its  worst  offense  is  in 
breeding  flies.  Like  all  other  wastes,  it  should  be  dis- 
posed of  before  decomposition  sets  in.  Garbage  should 
never  be  dumped  in  the  open  or  used  as  filling.  For  iso- 
lated houses  with  plenty  of  land  it  should  be  buried  in 
loosened  soil.  For  city  garbage  various  schemes  of 
utilizing  the  grease  and  nitrogen  have  been  proposed, 
and  some  tried,  but  from  a  sanitary  point  of  view  it  is 


14  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

better  frankly  to  consider  it  as  waste  to  be  disposed  of  at 
a  cost. 

Sweepings,  whether  of  houses  or  streets,  should  be 
burned  on  account  of  the  danger  from  disease  germs; 
dried  sputa  being,  at  present,  a  universal  ingredient. 

Sewage — the  liquefied  waste  of  water-closet,  bathtub, 
wash  basin,  sink  and  laundry  tub — is  dirty  water  with 
only  about  one  per  cent,  of  dirt,  but  it  is  a  dangerous  dirt 
in  so  many  cases  that  all  sewage  is  suspicious. 

Water  carriage  complies  with  the  law  of  quick  re- 
moval from  houses  and  city  precincts,  but  its  after  dis- 
posal is  a  troublesome  problem.  In  the  not  far  distant 
future  all  such  water  will  be  purified  before  being  dis- 
charged into  the  sea  or  into  streams.  The  municipal 
plant  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  is  one  of  the  best  models  at 
the  present  writing. 

For  the  isolated  house  or  institution,  sand  filtration 
and  cultivation  is  the  wisest  method  to  be  adopted,  not 
necessarily  for  profit,  but  for  safe  conversion  into  plant 
life.  Broad  irrigation  is  a  common  term.  The  princi- 
ples so  well  worked  out  in  arid  regions  hold  here.  A 
small  catch  basin  called  a  septic  tank  allows  the  solids 
to  liquefy  and  be  washed  out  and  soaked  up  by  the 
porous  soil,  where  the  nitrifying  plants  at  once  convert 
the  nitrogenous  matter  into  nitrates,  forming  food  for 
green  plants. 

The  necessity  for  cremation  has  already  been  re- 
ferred to.  The  waste  material — paper  wrappings,  paper 
bags  soiled  with  meat  juice  or  decayed  fruit,  scraps  of 
all  kinds — attracts  flies  and,  when  moistened,  breeds 
germs,  molds,  and  bacteria,  some  of  them  harmful  to 


The  Clean  City  1 5 

man,  and  all  meaning  decay  and  filth.  The  sweepings 
of  houses  and  offices,  dry  lint  from  clothes,  wood  chips 
from  pencils,  threads,  dust,  and  mud  whirled  in  from 
the  street  by  the  breeze,  or  brought  in  on  shoes,  are  too 
often  swept  into  the  street  or  left  by  the  door. 

Scraps  of  lunch,  bones  given  to  dogs,  stones  and 
skins  of  fruit,  all  find  their  way  to  the  corners  by  house 
and  sidewalk.  The  useful  microbes  do  their  best  to  get 
all  such  waste  into  the  form  of  food  for  plants,  so  that 
it  will  be  no  longer  waste ;  but  meanwhile  it  is  not  pleas- 
ant to  see  or  smell  decay.  All  such  wastes  should  be 
burned  at  once  and  thus  be  transformed  into  plant  food 
in  the  ashes  and  the  gases  which  are  given  off. 

The  kitchen  wastes  are  more  difficult  to  dispose  of 
because  food  stuffs  have  more  water,  which  smothers 
the  fire,  causes  smoke  and  a  bad  odor. 

Well-constructed  crematories,  whether  of  the  simple 
sort  in  the  vacant  lot  or  the  city  plant,  have  something 
of  the  nature  of  a  shelf  on  which  the  wet  stuff  may  dry 
before  being  thrown  into  the  fire.  Most  households  and 
villages  have  enough  paper  and  dry  waste  to  burn  the 
rest  without  any  other  fuel.  The  one  need  is  a  good 
draft,  tall  chimneys  or  forced  draft,  to  give  air  enough 
for  complete  combustion.  It  is  only  incomplete  combus- 
tion that  gives  odors. 

A  few  years  ago  this  method  of  getting  rid  of  waste 
would  have  been  considered  wasteful.  The  paper,  then 
made  of  cotton  and  linen  rags,  could  be  used  over,  the 
garbage  could  be  fed  to  pigs  and  hens.  It  was  then 
thought  that  the  nitrogen  was  lost  if  food  scraps  were 
burned  and  the  gases  sent  into  the  air.  It  has  been 


t6  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

found,  however,  that  clover  and  pea  plants,  especially, 
have  little  bacteria-bearing  nodules  on  their  roots  which 
can  make  the  nitrogen  of  the  air  into  nitrates,  or  a  form 
for  plant  food.  Plants  take  the  needed  carbon  from  the 
air,  so  there  is  no  excuse  for  allowing  refuse  to  rot  rather 
than  to  burn  it.  The  ashes  prove  the  best  of  fertilizer. 

On  the  farm,  the  kitchen  waste  may  be  safely  fed  to 
pigs  and  hens,  because  it  may  be  given  to  them  fresh  and 
sweet ;  but  the  contents  of  the  garbage  pail  of  the  village 
house  are  not  fit  food  if  left  for  two  or  three  days  to 
ferment  and  decay  between  deposit  and  use. 

It  may  be  taken  as  an  axiom  that  one  of  the  most 
valuable  aids  in  modern  sanitation  is  the  well-constructed 
crematory,  and  as  we  realize  more  and  more  the  value  of 
pure  air  we  shall  burn  wastes  more  quickly. 

We  look  for  the  time  when  most  market  refuse  will 
be  left  at  the  large  centers,  and  when  the  individual 
housewife  will  not  need  to  deal  with  corn  husks,  cabbage 
leaves,  chicken  legs,  etc.  But  as  long  as  she  has  these 
to  dispose  of,  so  long  she  must  keep  her  garbage  pail 
washed  out  and  dried  whenever  emptied.  That  means 
a  second  pail,  and  where  shall  the  washings  go?  That 
means  a  can  small  enough  to  be  washed  with  soda  in  the 
sink.  It  means,  too,  that  it  must  be  emptied  every  day. 
When  we  are  willing  to  pay  for  the  city  cart  daily,  or 
when  we  will  take  the  trouble  to  care  for  the  garbage 
daily,  the  air  will  be  sweeter  and  there  will  be  fewer 
germs  of  disease  floating  about. 

Prevention  is  always  better  than  cure.  While  it  is 
possible  to  wash  meat,  lettuce,  and  berries,  it  is  much 
better  to  keep  these  and  other  articles  as  clean  as  possi- 


The  Clean  City  17 

ble.  The  driving  of  a  load  of  uncovered  meat  through 
the  streets  or  along  country  roads  should  not  be  tolerated 
by  the  buyer.  Besides  the  dust  there  are  flies,  and  we 
have  learned  that  they  are  not  only  disagreeable,  but 
they  may  be  dangerous. 

The  picking  of  berries  and  small  fruits  by  careless 
country  children  is  a  danger,  for  not  all  country  people 
are  in  good  health ;  moreover,  they  too  often  excuse 
grimy  hands  and  greasy  clothes  with  the  plea  of  trouble 
in  getting  a  sufficient  supply  of  water. 

Civic  pride  in  clean  markets  should  be  encouraged 
and  each  purchaser  should  patronize  only  the  cleanest. 
If  plenty  of  hot  water  and  towels  and  clean  frocks  cost 
more  to  the  butcher,  then  we  must  be  willing  to  pay  more 
to  him.  Thus  we  may  pay  less  to  the  doctor  and  nurse, 
and  gain  more  good  out  of  life  by  being  well. 

The  screen  will  keep  off  flies,  but  it  will  not  prevent 
the  settling  of  fine  dust.  There  is  in  a  suburb  of  a 
Western  city  a  really  clean  market.  Why  are  there  not 
more? 

The  American  favorite  ice  cream  may  become  a 
source  of  danger  in  hot  weather  if  it  is  prepared  in  an 
unclean  place,  or  is  kept  over  and  refrozen  after  being 
melted.  It  is  a  safe  rule  never  to  buy  ice  cream  from  a 
push  cart  or  street  stand. 

Cream  cakes  and  whipped  cream  confections  are  not 
good  food  in  hot  weather. 

Just  as  common  needs  have  developed  community 
oversight  of  roads  and  sidewalks,  so  universal  need  of 
light  and  water  has  produced  the  public  utility  of  gas, 
electricity,  and  water  supplies.  It  is  necessary  only  to 


1 8  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

refer  to  these  here,  since  they  are  under  expert  super- 
vision in  all  well-conducted  towns.  The  sanitary  dan- 
gers are  mostly  connected  with  improper  house  fixtures, 
which  will  be  considered  in  the  chapter  on  the  house. 

In  no  one  thing  do  we  find  more  perfect  justification 
for  stringent  sanitary  measures  than  in  the  case  of  a 
city  milk  supply.  The  death  rate  of  infants  is  about 
twenty  per  cent.  In  a  city  of  500,000  inhabitants  several 
hundred  children  have  been  liable  to  die  in  a  summer, 
almost  wholly  from  bad  feeding,  and  mostly  from  dirty 
milk.  "War  is  nothing,  when  it  comes  to  increasing  the 
death  rate,  compared  to  filthy  milk."  Vigorous  meas- 
ures by  state  and  town  must  be  used,  for  the  single 
householder  is  powerless. 

In  suburban  rural  communities,  however,  each  user 
of  milk  should  know  how  the  cows  and  cow  stable  from 
which  his  milk  is  sent  are  cared  for. 

Clean  milk,  if  cooled  at  once  and  kept  cool  from  50° 
to  60°  F.,  should  keep  sweet  thirty-six  hours  at  least. 
There  should  be  no  sediment  in  the  bottom  of  the  vessel 
in  which  it  stands,  and  it  should  have  no  peculiar  taste 
or  odor. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  no  preservative  should 
be  added.  To  produce  clean  and  safe  milk,  the  stable, 
the  cows,  the  pail,  the  milker  (as  to  his  hands  especially), 
all  must  be  scrupulously  clean — bacteriologically  clean, 
not  just  clean.  In  the  house,  milk  should  be  protected 
from  dust.  Those  who  have  no  cool  dark  place  in  which 
to  keep  milk  are  at  a  great  disadvantage.  Milk  is  such 
good  food  for  bacteria  that  they  thrive  at  a  prodigious 
rate  when  the  temperature  permits  their  growth.  New- 


The  Clean  City  19 

man1  gives  an  experiment  on  a  sample  of  milk  which 
at  32°  F.  (o°  C.)  contained  3,000  bacteria  per  c.c.  The 
portions  kept  below  55°  F.  (13°  C.)  showed  very  little 
increase  in  twenty-four  hours,  but  the  portion  at  60° 
gave  180,000;  at  68°,  450,000;  at  86°,  1,400,000,000; 
at  94°  (35°  C-)»  25,000,000,000. 

It  may  be  that,  just  as  great  pipe  lines  have  been  laid 
to  carry  clean  water  for  50  to  200  miles  and  oil  for 
greater  distances,  so  pipe  lines  will  be  laid  to  give  that 
equally  necessary  fluid,  clean  milk,  to  a  large  city;  but 
at  present  it  must  be  brought  in  cans  200  to  300  miles 
and  handled  two  or  three  times  before  the  consumer 
finds  it  on  his  breakfast  table. 

Milk  differs  from  oil  and  water  in  that  it  is  a  perfect 
mixture  in  which  to  cultivate  many  kinds  of  plants,  and 
all  seeds  and  spores  as  well  as  plants  must  be  kept  out. 
For  discussion  of  milk  see  Newman,  "Bacteriology  and 
the  Public  Health,"  and  local  bulletins  and  reports.2 

It  has  been  said  that  the  milk  problem  is  to  get  done 
what  we  know  how  to  do,  and  it  is  an  excellent  illustra- 
tion of  the  need  of  co-operation  between  the  individual 
and  the  community.  For  instance,  the  milk  cans  re- 
turned to  the  milkman  from  retail  stores,  bakeshops,  and 
from  many  private  dwellings  are  in  an  absolutely  filthy 
condition  not  only  from  neglect,  but  because  of  use  for 
improper  purposes. 

Each  housewife  should  see  to  it  that  receptacles  for 

'"Bacteriology  and  the  Public  Health,"  p.  188. 

2U.  S.  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry,  Bulletins  Nos.  20,  46,  and  81, 
and  Farmers'  Bulletins,  Nos.  63  and  74,  on  milk,  the  care  of  milk,  and 
the  milk  supply  of  large  cities. 


20 


Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 


milk  should  never  be  used  for  other  purposes?,  and  that 
they  are  washed  as  soon  as  emptied. 

The  requirements  for  safe  milk  are  a  healthy  cow, 
absolute  cleanliness,  low  temperature,  50°,  and  quickness 
of  use,  twenty-four  to  thirty-six  hours  at  most. 

ILLUSTRATIVE  EXPERIMENTS 

Mosquito  extermination,  street  cleaning,  and  garbage 
collection  may  be  described  by  the  teacher.  The  class 
may  expose  Petri  dishes  on  the  window  sill,  on  the  side- 
walk, in  the  electric  or  steam  car.  Note  results  in  dif- 
ferent streets  and  wards.  Examine  the  methods  used  in 
street  cleaning;  write  directions  for  better  work. 

Prepare  directions  for  personal  aid  in  this  matter  to 
be  posted  on  the  school  bulletin. 

Ask  permission  from  the  Board  of  Health  to  clear 
vacant  lots  and  wet  places  nearby  by  approved  methods. 

TO  ILLUSTRATE  GARBAGE  CREMATION 

Experiment  i.  On  the  hot  plate  to  be  found  in  most 
laboratories,  or  on  a  sheet  iron  square  or  round  laid  on 
the  ring  of  a  lamp  stand,  place  a  quarter  slice  of  bread 
and  heat  it  gently.  At  first,  moisture  escapes,  as  is 
proved  by  holding  a  large  dry  beaker  over  the  bread  for 
a  second  or  two.  The  cloudiness  is  seen  to  be  water. 
Soon  the  bread  turns  brown  and  then  black,  or  chars, 
and  begins  to  emit  smoke.  At  this  stage,  if  a  flame  is 
brought  close  to  the  bread,  the  gas  so  rapidly  forming 
(hydrocarbons)  will  take  fire  and  burn  with  a  more  or  less 
smoky  flame,  leaving  a  glossy  black  mass  of  charcoal 


The  Clean  City  21 

or  pure  carbon,  which  requires  a  higher  heat  and  fine 
division  for  complete  combustion. 

Bread  contains  only  about  45  per  cent,  water  and  so 
burns  rather  readily.  A  slice  of  potato  treated  in  the 
same  way  needs  to  dry  longer  in  order  to  evaporate  its 
75  per  cent,  water.  A  slice  of  apple,  or  tomato,  or  a 
melon  rind  with  90  per  cent,  of  water  must  be  dried 
longer  still,  but  when  dry  the  result  is  the  same.  It  is 
this  need  of  drying  which  makes  cremation  of  garbage 
costly,  unless  some  source  of  waste  heat  is  available,  or 
some  other  waste  is  at  hand  to  mix  with  it. 

Experiment  2.  Place  on  the  hot  iron  a  thin  slice  of 
suet  or  of  butter  or  a  teaspoonful  of  cream.  A  little 
water  will  escape,  but  the  mass  will  soon  give  off  in- 
flammable gases  and  burn  brilliantly,  leaving  almost  no 
residue.  There  will  be  some  sooty  smoke  because  the 
air  cannot  get  to  it  quickly  enough  to  burn  it  all.  If 
some  of  this  fat  can  go  in  with  the  other  garbage,  the 
whole  will  burn  admirably.  But  fat  is  too  valuable  to 
dispose  of  in  this  way;  it  has  too  many  uses,  so  it  is 
abstracted  from  the  refuse. 

Experiment  3.  Place  a  thin  shaving  of  beef  or 
chicken  or  ham  on  the  hot  plate  and  treat  as  before. 
The  same  results  will  follow,  with  the  addition  of  very 
disagreeable  odors.  The  smell  of  burning  flesh  is  sick- 
ening. 

All  residue  containing  nitrogen,  such  as  bones, 
hair,  woolen,  etc.,  gives  off  most  unpleasant  odors  with 
the  gases  formed,  so  that  a  specially  constructed  furnace 
to  consume  these  gases  is  needed.  With  this  there  is  no 
difficulty.  The  burning  gases  and  charcoal  should  be 
used  to  dry  the  other  garbage  and  even  to  furnish  power. 


Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 


22 


Procure  a  sample  of  really  fresh,  clean,  cooled  milk 
not  more  than  6  hours  from  milking.  Compare  this 
with  samples  bought  at  various  places. 

Measure  out  5  c.c.  of  each  into  a  small  beaker,  dilute 
with  50  c.c.  of  water,  add  3  drops  of  the  indicator 
solution,  phenolphthalein,  and  from  a  burette  add  drop 
by  drop,  with  stirring,  sodium  hydroxide  one-tenth  nor- 
mal solution  (4  grams  NaOH  in  i  liter)  until  the  mix- 
ture is  faintly  pink.  Each  tenth  of  a  cubic  centimeter 
of  the  sodium  hydroxide  used  is  counted  as  a  degree  of 
acidity. 

This  acid  is  chiefly  lactic  acid  formed  from  milk 
sugar  by  the  action  of  B  lacticus.  The  fresh  milk  should 
show  less  than  10°  ;  when  the  test  shows  23°  the  original 
sample  will  coagulate  on  boiling.  Some  samples  may 
show  as  high  as  100°  and  yet  no  harmful  results  follow 
their  use.  Apparently  the  harmful  fermentations  which 
take  place  are  those  which  affect  the  nitrogenous  con- 
stituents, yield  ammonia,  and  so  tend  to  neutralize  the 
lactic  acid.  For  this  reason  no  decision  can  be  reached 
as  to  safety  of  milk  by  chemical  tests. 

Absolutely  normal  milk  gives  the  amphoteric  reac- 
tion, that  is,  it  turns  delicate  red  litmus  paper  blue,  and 
blue  litmus  red  because  neutral  and  acid  phosphates  are 
present. 

The  Petri  dishes  may  be  used  to  show  in  general  the 
presence  of  germs,  and  a  description  may  be  given  of 
the  methods  by  centrifuge  for  pus  cells,  dirt,  etc.,  but  it 
is  not  advisable  to  take  time  for  the  class  to  go  through 
the  processes, 


The  Clean  City  23 

Qualitative  tests  for  dirt  may  be  made  by  filtering 
through  closely  packed  absorbent  cotton. 

Leach  recommends  the  following  simple  test  for  the 
presence  of  formaldehyde: 

To  10  c.c.  of  the  milk  in  a  white  porcelain  dish  add 
8  c.c.  of  hydrochloric  acid  (1.2  sp.  gr.)  and  2  c.c.  of  a 
10  per  cent,  ferric  chloride  solution;  heat  gently  nearly 
to  a  boiling  point,  stirring  all  the  while  to  break  up 
the  curd.  More  or  less  formaldehyde  gives  deeper  or 
lighter  violet  color.  One  part  in  250,000  parts  of  milk 
may  be  detected. 


CHAPTER   III 

THE   CLEAN    HOUSE 

The  sanitation  of  the  house,  a  space  inclosed  by  four 
walls  and  more  or  less  cut  up  into  smaller  spaces,  consists  in 
keeping  the  air  fairly  clean,  the  water  supply  safe,  and  the 
food  good. 

THE  air  of  inclosed  spaces  soon  becomes  over- 
crowded by  the  products  of  respiration,  among 
which  we  note  carbon  dioxide  and  moisture.  The  car- 
bon dioxide  arises  from  the  processes  of  decomposition 
of  the  food  in  the  body  whereby  warmth  and  energy  are 
furnished.  Carbon  dioxide  is  a  waste  product  which  is 
no  longer  useful  and  should  be  at  once  removed,  like  any 
other  waste. 

Modern  sanitarians  are  inclined  to  believe  that  of  all 
the  causes  of  disease  vitiation  of  the  air  is  by  far  the  most 
important.  A  man  emits  as  much  CO2  through  respira- 
tion daily  as  would  be  produced  by  about  one-half  pound 
of  charcoal. 

The  air  can  never  be  quite  clean  and  fresh,  because  it 
is  confined  somewhat  and  often  is  contaminated  by  the 
products  of  combustion  from  lamps  and  gas,  from  cook 
stoves  and  furnaces,  and  by  deleterious  gas  from  unclean 
soil  on  which  it  stands,  from  dirty  back  yards,  from  leak- 
ing gas  fixtures,  and  from  furnace  gas.  Gases  and  fluids 
leaking  from  joints  in  sewer  pipes  add  to  the  contami- 
nating odors  from  cooking  and  dust  from  carpets  and 

24 


The  Clean  House  25 

furniture,  until  it  is  no  wonder  that  so  many  persons 
suffer  from  "colds"  and  from  that  general  debility  which 
allows  the  attack  of  many  diseases. 

Tuberculosis  is  especially  a  closed-space  disease. 
Considering  the  bad  quality  of  the  air  that  so  many 
persons  accustom  themselves  to  breathe,  it  is  a  matter 
for  wonder  that  no  more  persons  are  sick. 

In  the  cities,  owing  to  the  cost  of  buildings  and  land, 
the  cubic  air  space  for  each  person  is  growing  smaller 
and  smaller,  until  the  law  has  stepped  in  and  required 
330  cubic  feet  of  space  for  each  person  in  a  tenement, 
in  a  schoolhouse,  in  a  factory. 

The  law  leaves  the  demand  for  air  to  the  good  sense 
of  the  ordinary  house  dweller,  who  is  learning  only 
slowly  that  his  brilliant  Welsbach  light  of  an  evening, 
his  tight  steam-heated  apartment,  his  one-window  bed- 
room, are  slowly  sapping  his  strength. 

The  effort  now  made  to  educate  the  whole  people  in 
the  use  of  fresh  air  as  an  important  factor  in  curing  and, 
still  better,  in  preventing  tuberculosis  will  have  good  re- 
sults in  the  direction  of  general  health  as  well  as  in  any 
specific  case. 

The  three  essentials  for  healthful  life  are  food,  water, 
and  air,  and  the  most  important  of  these  is  air.  In  this 
most  medical  men  and  hygienists  are  agreed.  While  we 
eat  perhaps  three  times  a  day  and  take  water  every  few 
hours,  we  breathe,  upon  the  average,  twenty  times  a 
minute,  or  28,800  times  every  twenty-four  hours.  So 
constant  a  function  must  be  an  important  one.  We  are 
told  that  if  air  could  be  withheld  from  us  for  six  minutes, 
we  should  die.  Moreover,  where  abundant  oxygen  is 


26  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

present  in  the  air,  the  quality  of  the  food  is  of  much  less 
consequence  than  when  the  air  is  vitiated. 

There  are  numerous  historical  records  of  deaths  from 
insufficient  air.  We  remember  learning  that  of  the  146 
persons  confined  in  the  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta,  123  died 
in  one  night. 

The  author  has  said  elsewhere  that  "nothing  will  take 
the  place  of  fresh  air.  It  is  one  of  the  necessities  of 
right  living.  The  child  should  be  taught  to  recognize 
stale  air  and  to  demand  fresh  air  as  he  now  demands  a 
drink  of  water.  Study  rooms  at  home  and  in  school 
must  have  better  facilities  than  nine-tenths  now  have, 
in  order  to  lessen  the  'partial  death  rate.' "  "The  child 
should  learn  to  heed  this  call  [for  oxygen]  as  much  as 
any  other.  It  is  imperative  that  fresh  air,  not  used-up, 
breathed-over-and-over-again  air,  should  flow  through 
the  lungs." 

It  is  the  birthright  of  every  child  to  be  allowed  fresh, 
clean  air  to  breathe  and  be  taught  how  to  fill  his  lungs 
with  it  by  deep  breathing.  If  he  once  recognizes  the 
odor  and  effect  of  unclean  air  and  becomes  accustomed 
to  good  air,  he  has  acquired  a  valuable  asset  for  life. 
He  is  in  little  danger  from  tuberculosis,  and  in  less  dan- 
ger from  colds  and  throat  diseases. 

Because  the  body  does  adapt  itself  to  surrounding 
conditions  is  no  reason  for  making  those  conditions  as 
hard  as  possible.  The  pale  and  pinched  appearance  of 
the  children  of  the  crowded  city  is  caused  more  by  the 
lack  of  clean  air  than  by  any  other  one  thing. 

To  secure  sufficient  air  without  dust  and  without 
drafts  is  the  great  problem  of  the  city  dweller,  and  he 


27 

must  use  all  his  common  sense  and  ingenuity  to  secure 
this. 

Examine  briefly  the  constituents  of  the  air.  The 
composition  of  the  air  shows,  on  an  average,  20.93  Per 
cent,  oxygen,  79.04  per  cent,  nitrogen,  .03  per  cent.  CO2, 
with  traces  of  ammonia,  ozone,  argon,  krypton,  neon, 
metargon.  These  parts  do  not  form  a  chemical  com- 
pound, but  are  mechanically  mixed. 

Air  at  the  height  of  15,000  feet  has  been  found  to 
have  the  same  composition  as  at  the  sea  level.  Atmos- 
pheric pressure,  however,  influences  cell  life,  so  that  a 
change  to  a  higher  altitude  usually  has  a  stimulating 
effect. 

Ozone  is  a  form  of  oxygen  containing  three  atoms  of 
oxygen  to  the  molecule  instead  of  two.  It  is  produced 
by  electrical  disturbances,  and  is  found  in  some  abun- 
dance, caused  by  the  atmospheric  electricity,  at  the  sea- 
shore and  on  mountains.  The  name,  coming  from  the 
Greek  "I  smell,"  is  interesting,  having  been  given 
because  of  the  peculiar  odor  that  was  observed  during 
a  thunder  storm,  and  later  in  the  presence  of  an  active 
electrical  machine.  It  may  be  that  it  is  this  ozone  in  the 
air  that  makes  in  large  part  the  life-giving  quality  of  sea 
and  mountain  air. 

A  variety  of  causes  may  contribute  to  change  the 
quality  of  the  air  indoors,  vitiating  it  so  that  it  is  unfit 
to  be  breathed.  There  may  be  too  much  CO2,  and  con- 
sequently too  little  oxygen;  there  may  be  too  little 
moisture,  or  there  may  be  too  much  moisture ;  there  may 
be  substances,  such  as  dust,  suspended  in  the  air ;  there 
may  be  noxious  gases  or  impurities  from  respiration. 


28  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

The  presence  of  any  one  of  these  in  excess  is  a  pre- 
disposing factor  to  disease  and  should  be  guarded  against 
with  all  care.  The  remedy  is  to  keep  the  inside  air  as 
nearly  the  same  as  that  of  outdoors  as  possible.  This 
means  a  free  circulation  of  air,  with  no  dead  spaces  to 
hold  foul  air.  In  summer  this  is  not  difficult,  but  with 
the  first  chill  of  the  fall  we  begin  to  shut  our  windows, 
and  we  put  off  the  artificial  heat  as  long  as  possible. 
This  is  a  grave  mistake  of  many  people.  The  dampness 
of  the  soil  and  walls  of  houses  in  spring  and  fall  should 
be  counteracted  by  fires  even  if  the  windows  are  left 
open.  This  is  not  the  waste  it  seems,  for  it  means  mak- 
ing the  transition  from  one  season  to  the  other  without 
the  severe  colds  which  so  pull  one  down. 

Habit  has  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  desire  for 
fresh  air  and  the  endurance  of  moving  currents. 

If  one  feels  cold  it  is  better  to  take  a  brisk  walk  or  to 
run  up  and  down  stairs  or  to  go  through  simple  arm  and 
leg  exercises  than  to  hug  the  stove  or  sit  over  the 
register. 

Even  the  kitchen  can  be  kept  decently  cool  if  the  ven- 
tilators are  arranged  properly.  There  is  no  such  thing 
as  being  obliged  to  stifle.  We  do  not  care  enough  to 
remedy  matters,  that  is  all. 

The  newspapers  make  much  of  the  powers  of  General 
Humidity,  but  it  is  no  laughing  matter.  The  relative 
moisture  in  the  air  is  one  of  the  serious  disadvantages 
of  certain  climates.  The  reasons  are  not  all  well  under- 
stood, and  belong  under  physiology  rather  than  sanita- 
tion. What  does  belong  here  is  the  recognition  of  possi- 
ble sanitary  precautions  even  though  they  might  come 


The  Clean  House  29 

under  personal  hygiene,  such  as  the  avoidance  of  rich 
food,  which  requires  the  evaporation  of  much  water  from 
the  body  surface  to  carry  away  the  un needed  heat,  the 
wearing  of  light  and  porous  clothing,  etc.  But  beyond 
that,  in  climates  where  such  days  are  only  occasional  and 
for  that  reason  are  not  prepared  for,  the  installation  of 
drying  apparatus  is  desirable  and  not  impossible.  Pre- 
cautions as  to  food  and  undue  exertion  on  hot  days  with 
high  humidity  should  be  general,  in  order  that  the  blood 
pressure  should  be  reduced  and  escape  from  sunstroke 
made  possible. 

In  cold  winter  weather  when  halls  are  heated  by  steam 
the  air  may  become  too  dry  for  comfort.  Hot  water 
heating  and  good  ventilation  will  obviate  this  difficulty. 

At  all  temperatures  moisture  exists  in  the  air  in  an 
invisible  state.  A  rise  of  temperature  increases  the 
capacity  of  the  air  for  moisture  to  a  certain  limit  when 
the  air  is  said  to  be  saturated.  This  capacity  of  air  for 
moisture  increases  more  rapidly  than  the  temperature. 
Air  at  32°  can  contain  i6oth  part  of  its  own  weight;  at 
59°,  the  Both  part;  at  86°,  the  4Oth  part,  the  law  being 
that  for  every  increase  of  27°  its  capacity  is  doubled. 
The  dew-point,  or  the  temperature  at  which  the  moisture, 
begins  to  condense,  may  be  determined  by  placing  a 
thermometer  in  a  polished  metal  cup  and  dropping  in 
small  pieces  of  ice  until  moisture  appears  on  the  outside. 
The  temperature  read  must  be  that  of  the  cup  and  not  of 
unmelted  ice.  The  experiment  takes  time,  therefore  the 
device  of  the  so-called  wet  bulb  with  constant  evapora- 
tion is  most  convenient.1 

1  Signal  Service  Notes,  No.  Ill,  "To  Foretell  Frost."  By  James 
Allen.  Washington  office  of  the  chief  signal  officer  of  the  Army. 


jo  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

One  or  more  of  the  several  registering  humidity  test- 
ers should  be  in  the  schoolroom  and  records  kept.  But 
whatever  apparatus  is  kept,  the  pupils  should  set  up  for 
themselves  the  simple  one  of  two  common  but  correct 
thermometers  whose  zero  point  is  the  same.  About  the 
bulb  of  one  tie  a  skein  of  embroidery  silk,  silk  gauze,  or 
some  long  fibered  cotton  wick  such  as  is  used  in  alcohol 
lamps.  The  essential  point  is  that  it  shall  by  its  capil- 
larity soak  up  water  from  the  bottle  suspended  below, 
quickly  and  constantly,  to  replace  that  lost  by  the  evap- 
oration about  the  bulb,  cooling  it  in  proportion  to  the 
rapidity  of  evaporation. 

The  water  used  should  be  soft  and  the  silk  or  cotton 
fiber  be  kept  clean  and  not  allowed  to  become  caked  with 
dust,  or  greased  from  handling  with  the  fingers. 

The  two  thermometers  are  hung  side  by  side  three  or 
four  inches  apart,  and  of  course  out  of  reach  of  the  sun. 

This  simple  device  is  most  convenient  for  any  one 
who  has  a  garden,  since  it  gives  a  means  of  foretelling 
frost.  The  wet  bulb  registers  the  dew-point  or  the 
saturation  temperature  to  which  the  thermometer  is  to 
fall  unless  clouds  or  wind  intervene.  Thus  if  at  nine 
o'clock  on  an  October  evening  the  air  thermometer  reads 
60°  and  the  wet  bulb  reads  48°,  a  difference  of  12°,  the 
temperature  may  fall  to  31°.  If  the  air  is  45°  and  the 
wet  bulb  seven  degrees  lower,  or  38°,  the  final  tempera- 
ture may  be  as  low  as  25°  with  killing  frost,  whereas  if 
there  is  only  a  difference  of  two  degrees  it  will  fall  to 
40°  and  the  plants  be  safe. 


DEW-POINT 
Difference  between  Reading  of  Wet  and  Dry  Bulb 


Air 
temper- 
ature. 

0 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

Air 
temper- 
ature. 

o 
+30 
+35 
+40 

o 
+30 
+35 
+40 

o 
+27 
+32 
+37 

o 
+24 
+29 
+35 

o 
+21 
+26 
+32 

o 
+17 
+24 
+29 

0 

+13 

+20 
+26 

+  7 
+16 
+22 

o 
—  1 

+11 
+18 

o 

—11 

+  6 
+12 

o 
—30 
—  3 
+10 

o 

o 

o 

o 

0 

+30 

+35 
+40 

—17 

+  3 

—  6 

—22 

+45 

+45 

+43 

+40 

+38 

+35 

+32 

+29 

+25 

+21 

+17 

+11 

+  4 

—  7 

—27 

+45 

+60 

+50 

+48 

+46 

+43 

+41 

+38 

+36 

+33 

+29 

+26 

+22 

+17 

+11 

+  3 

+50 

+55 

+55 

+53 

+51 

+49 

+47 

+45 

+42 

+39 

+36 

+33 

+30 

+26 

+22 

+17 

+55 

+60 

+60 

+58 

+56 

+54 

+52 

+50 

+48 

+46 

+43 

+41 

+38 

+35 

+31 

+28 

+60 

The  temperature  which  we  feel  is  that  of  the  wet 
bulb,  that  is,  the  evaporation  temperature,  for  our  skins 
are  evaporating  water  just  as  the  wrapping  of  the  wet 
bulb  is  doing.  A  little  practice  in  watching  the  ther- 
mometers and  consulting  relative  humidity  tables  will 
convince  of  the  truth  of  this. 

A  room  occupied  by  many  people  becomes  saturated 
with  moisture  from  the  breath  and  bodies  of  the  inmates 
and  the  stifling  sensation  is  very  oppressive.  A  current 
of  air  to  carry  away  this  moisture  is  essential  to  com- 
fort. Just  what  is  the  physiological  effect  of  the  reten- 
tion of  this  moisture  upon  the  body,  the  scientific  world 
has  not  decided,  but  it  is  agreed  that  it  is  bad.  Its 
effect  in  weakening  the  system  is  shown  in  the  fact  that 
so  many  persons  contract  colds  and  pneumonia  on  pass- 
ing from  a  crowded  room  to  the  dry  air  outside  in  the 
cold  weather. 


Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

RELATIVE  HUMIDITY 
Difference  between  Wet  and  Dry  Bulb  Thermometers 

+  10°  to +100° 


Wet  bulb 
thermome- 
ter. 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

0 

o 

*7O 

o 
PI 

o 
i-i 

0 

28 

13 

0 

o 

0 

° 

0 

0 

o 

o 

10 

la 

00 

01 

67 

M 

52 

39 

27 

15 

5 

15 

oo 

OK 

I 
79 

60 

48 

38 

28 

19 

11 

20 

OO 

QQ 

1*0 

77 

67 

59 

48 

41 

32 

26 

18 

10 

25 
30 

OO 

89 

J  t 

79 

69 

61 

52 

45 

37 

30 

26 

18 

11 

6 

.  . 

35 

90 

80 

71 

63 

56 

48 

42 

35 

30 

24 

19 

14 

10 

40 

91 

83 

75 

67 

60 

54 

48 

42 

37 

32 

27 

23 

19 

45 

92 

85 

77 

71 

64 

59 

53 

48 

43 

38 

34 

30 

26 

50 

93 

86 

79 

73 

68 

62 

57 

53 

48 

44 

40 

36 

33 

55 

93 

87 

81 

76 

70 

66 

61 

57 

52 

48 

45 

41 

38 

GO 

94 

88 

83 

78 

73 

68 

64 

60 

56 

52 

49 

45 

42 

66 

94 

90 

84 

79 

75 

71 

67 

63 

59 

56 

52 

49 

46 

70 

95 

90 

85 

81 

76 

72 

69 

65 

61 

58 

55 

52 

49 

75 

95 

90 

86 

82 

78 

74 

70 

67 

64 

61 

58 

55 

52 

80 

95 

91 

87 

83 

79 

75 

72 

69 

66 

63 

60 

57 

54 

85 

96 

91 

88 

84 

80 

76 

73 

70 

67 

64 

62 

59 

56 

90 

96 

92 

88 

85 

81 

78 

75 

72 

69 

66 

63 

61 

58 

95 

96 

92 

89 

85 

82 

79 

76 

73 

70 

68 

65 

62 

60 

100 

96 

93 

89 

86 

83 

80 

77 

74 

71 

69 

66 

64 

62 

The  reading  of  the  wet  bulb  thermometer  is  found 
on  the  left-hand  column,  and  the  difference  between  the 
wet  and  the  dry  bulb  in  the  horizontal  line  at  the  top. 
The  number  at  the  intersection  of  these  columns  is  the 
relative  humidity  under  the  conditions  at  the  time. 

The  table  is  shortened  to  avoid  confusion,  but  the 
full  tables  may  be  consulted  and  may  well  be  copied  on  a 


The  Clean  House  33 

card  and  hung  up  beside  the  humidity  apparatus.  (See 
Ward's  "Meteorology.") 

Public  sanitation  is  forced  to  take  account  of  the 
quality  of  air  in  cars,  halls,  schools,  and  places  of  amuse- 
ment where  many  people  are  crowded  together,  and 
where  the  wishes  of  one  individual  may  conflict  with 
the  inclination  of  others. 

The  same  methods  may  be  used  in  the  single  house. 
The  air  in  this  should  be  even  more  closely  looked  after, 
for  one  stays  many  hours  in  a  house. 

Dust  in  the  air  causes  irritation  of  the  air  passages 
if  nothing  more,  and  such  furnishings  of  the  house  and 
such  care  of  them  and  of  the  floors  should  be  secured 
as  will  allow  clean  air  to  breathe. 

The  condition  of  growing  plants  is  one  of  the  very 
best  tests  of  room  or  house  sanitation.  If  their  leaves 
become  very  dusty,  then  the  room  is  not  cleaned  prop- 
erly ;  if  they  drop-  their  leaves,  then  there  is  probably  a 
gas  leak  or  furnace  gas  escapes.  If  they  do  not  grow, 
they  are  not  rightly  watered,  that  is,  if  they  have  been 
properly  potted.  Pots  for  the  dry  air  of  the  house 
should  not  be  of  the  porous  kind  used  in  the  damp  green- 
house. If  the  common  brown  earth  pot  is  oiled  on  the 
outside  and  then  shellaced,  it  will  be  much  better  for 
the  plant  and  much  neater  and  cleaner  to  handle.  The 
roots  that  go  to  the  edge  will  not  dry  up  and  the  earth 
will  not  be  cooled  by  evaporation.  Roots  as  well  as 
leaves  must  breathe,  therefore  porous  drainage  is  sup- 
plied at  the  bottom.  Where  plants  will  not  grow  people 
ought  not  to  live,  is  a  safe  maxim. 

For  the  country  house,  clean  soil  and  clean  water  are 


34  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

the  most  difficult  to  secure.  Because  the  living  earth  or 
soil-plants  so  abundant  in  the  surface — two  to  four 
inches  of  ordinary  "garden  soil" — sweetens  and  dis- 
poses so  efficiently  of  waste  matter  buried  there,  it  is 
abused  by  overdosing  or  continuous  use  and  thus  be- 
comes foul  and  a  menace  to  the  house  dwellers.  More- 
over, such  foul  soil  pollutes  the  water  in  the  vicinity,  so 
that,  more  often  than  not,  the  well  at  a  country  house, 
however  cool  and  clear  the  water,  is  unsafe  to  use.  This 
is  especially  the  case  when  there  is  a  supply  of  water  in 
the  house  and  a  cesspool  to  receive  the  waste,  or  when 
the  drain  is  allowed  to  make  a  wet  pool  within  fifty  feet 
of  the  well.  To  have  things  handy  is  not  always  safe. 
The  principle  on  which  earth  purification  takes  place 
is  by  supplying  it  with  air  continuously  or  intermittently. 
Little  plants  decompose  the  waste  matters  under  all  nat- 
ural conditions.  Those,  however,  that  convert  them  into 
harmless,  useful  nitrate,  carbon  dioxide,  etc.,  must  have 
oxygen  from  the  air.  Therefore  the  soil  must  be  porous, 
not  soaked.  A  pail  of  dirty  water  may  be  thrown  with 
impunity  on  the  same  spot  each  morning  for  twenty 
years  if  the  soil  takes  it  up  within  five  or  ten  minutes, 
but  if  the  soil  is  clayey,  so  that  the  water  stands  half  a 
day,  and  perhaps  is  wet  even  the  next  morning,  then 
purification  does  not  take  place.  A  small  plot  of  sandy 
soil  will  take  care  of  the  drainage  of  a  house,  if  it  is  used 
in  alternate  sections,  and  if  trees  such  as  apples  or  wil- 
lows are  grown  on  the  edge.  Some  crops  may  be  grown, 
such  as  corn,  whose  fruit  is  far  enough  above  the  surface 
to  escape  the  drainage  water.  Since  most  germs,  how- 
ever, are  killed  by  drying  in  the  sunlight,  there  is  little 


The  Clean  House  35 

danger  from  an  irrigation  garden.  The  underground 
water  is  in  constant  motion  toward  lower  land,  but  the 
level  of  the  so-called  water  table  is  not  usually  that  of  the 
surface.  Herein  is  the  cause  of  so  many  mistakes  in  the 
placing  of  wells  and  cesspools  and  barns  in  the  country. 
The  slope  of  surface  and  water  level  do  not  coincide. 

Clean  water  from  shallow  wells  is  a  rarity.  Soil  is 
porous  and  rocks  are  full  of  crevices,  so  that  what  is 
thrown  onto  the  surface  finds  its  way  some  distance 
down  to  the  water  level.  Human  beings  waste  salt  and 
nitrogenous  substances  that  are  soluble  and  which,  find- 
ing their  way  into  the  water,  are  carried  with  it  wherever 
it  goes.  If  they  are  found  in  any  considerable  amount, 
it  means  that  the  water  is  not  above  reproach,  but  it  may 
be  so  well  filtered  that  there  is  no  real  danger. 

It  is  about  as  dangerous  for  the  ordinary  person  with- 
out experience  to  attempt  to  interpret  the  results  of  a 
water  analysis  as  for  an  ordinary  person  to  interpret  the 
indications  of  a  serious  illness.  The  diagnosis  of  invid- 
ious disease  and  the  diagnosis  of  the  history  and  condi- 
tions of  an  unsafe  water  belong  to  the  expert  having 
not  only  knowledge  but  experience.  To  the  layman  ap- 
pearance and  taste  govern  his  judgment.  Neither  is  a 
criterion  of  safe  water.  The  soft,  slightly  yellow  water 
supplied  by  many  cities  is  shunned  by  visitors  merely 
from  sentiment.  The  meadow  tea,  as  Thoreau  aptly 
called  it,  is  quite  harmless. 

Not  all  clean  water  is  colorless.  Not  all  clear,  spark- 
ling water  is  clean.  Not  all  pond  water  is  dangerous. 
Not  all  well  or  spring  water  is  safe. 

Water  carries  whatever  gets  into  it  unless  it  is  fil- 


36  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

tered  out,  and  some  things  go  through  all  but  the  finest 

filter. 

If  kitchen  slops  are  thrown  on  the  ground,  the  water 
filters  through  the  soil,  leaving  the  cabbage  leaves  behind, 
but  carrying  the  salt  from  the  corned  beef  or  the  ice 
cream  freezer.  This  can  be  traced  into  the  stream  or  the 
well  if  it  is  in  the  line  of  flow,  probably  that  is  all  that 
can  be  traced.  But  chamber  slops  are  all  liquid  and  sink 
down  into  the  ground;  the  chlorine  goes  through  as  in 
the  kitchen  slops,  but  the  ammoniacal  salts  become  food 
for  grass,  roots  of  trees,  and  finally,  as  oxidized  nitrates 
(by  soil  bacteria),  the  nitrogen  passes  on  into  river  or 
well.  They  can  be  readily  detected  and  serve  to  indicate 
the  source  of  the  drainage. 

The  danger  is  that  the  cesspool  overflow  or  seepage 
will  not  be  well  filtered  and  that  some  bacteria  may  go 
through  and  some  disease  germs  also.  Too  great  care 
cannot  be  taken  to  have  clean  water  above  suspicion ; 
better  boil  it  if  there  is  doubt. 

The  schoolhouse  well  should  be  the  best  in  town,  but 
alas!  it  is  often  the  worst.  (Only  very  general  tests  will 
be  found  at  the  end  of  the  chapter,  for  most  of  the  water 
examinations  require  the  diagnosis  of  an  expert.) 

After  clean  air  and  clean  water  come  clean  fingers. 
At  first  it  might  seem  as  if  this  were  hygiene,  a  personal 
matter  like  care  of  feet  or  teeth,  but  it  is  much  more. 
It  means  clean  doors  and  desks  and  banisters,  dainty 
habits  in  the  use  of  fingers,  never  touching  nose  or 
mouth.  It  means  soap  and  water  and  towels,  a  nail 
brush  and  manicure  scissors.  It  means  careful  washing 
of  hands  after  touching  the  hair,  which  collects  dust 


The  Clean  House  37 

rapidly.     It  means  cleaning  of  shoes  in  a  basement  place 
provided,  and  a  brushing  of  clothes. 

Sanitary  cleanliness  means  washable  or  cleanable 
clothes.  Clothes  would  keep  clean  much  longer  if  fin- 
gers were  not  wiped  on  them,  and  if  they  were  care- 
fully hung  up  and  brushed.  Lint  from'unbrushed  woolen 
clothing  collects  dust  and  then,  when  damp,  smells. 

ILLUSTRATIVE  EXPERIMENTS 
TO  MAKE  A  CHAMBER  FOR  AIR  EXPERIMENTS 

Find  a  box  at  the  grocer's  about  16  x  18  x  6  inches. 
Get  from  the  glazier's  2  panes  of  common  glass ;  fit  the 
glass  front  and  back,  the  front  pane  to  slide  up  and  down 
fairly  readily.  It  need  not  be  air-tight,  no  room  ever  is. 
Then  make  holes  in  the  two  sides  with  a  1^2 -inch  auger 
and  use  corks  to  stop  the  holes.  If  there  is  a  manual 
training  shop  at  hand  the  room  may  be  made  with  oblong 
spaces  like  windows  and  sliding  shutters.  The  idea  is  to 
secure  a  closed  space  of  not  more  than  a  cubic  foot 
content  in  which,  without  too  much  time,  a  class  may  see 
the  candles  go  out,  and  watch  the  smoke  indicating  the 
currents. 

TO  TEST  AIR  CURRENTS  WITH  A  CANDLE  FLAME 

A  current  of  i  foot  a  second  velocity  does  not  per- 
ceptibly deflect  the  flame. 

One  and  one-half  to  2  feet  deflects  the  flame  30°. 

Four  feet  a  second  deflects  it  45°. 

Six  feet  a  second  deflects  it  60°. 

To   change   the   air  five   times   an   hour   in  a  small 


38  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

room,  or  in  a  space  where  people  sit  close  to  the  sides,  is 
a  difficult  matter  to  accomplish  without  causing  currents. 

TO  TEST  FOR  LEAKING  SEWER  PIPES 

Are  the  sewer  pipes  tight  as  shown  by  the  peppermint 
test?  Pour  two  ounces  of  oil  of  peppermint  into  the  soil 
pipe  at  its  mouth  above  the  roof,  if  it  is  accessible,  or  into 
the  basin  or  water-closet  nearest  the  roof,  first  closing  the 
vent  pipes  which  appear  above  the  roof.  Pour  in  imme- 
diately after  a  pailful  of  hot  water.  The  person  doing  this 
should  remain  shut  in  until  another  person  who  has  not 
handled  the  bottle,  nor  been  in  communication  with  the 
one  who  has,  has  passed  through  all  the  lower  rooms 
sniffing  for  a  trace  of  peppermint  odor.  If  this  is  noticed 
it  should  be  followed  to  the  leaking  spot  in  the  pipe. 

TESTING   AIR    FOR    CARBON    DIOXIDE 

The  most  suitable  solution  for  general  pupils  to  use 
is  lime  water.  A  saturated  stock  solution  may  be  kept 
in  a  bottle  protected  from  carbon  dioxide.  One  or  two 
much  weaker  solutions,  one  one-hundredth  or  one  two- 
hundredth  as  strong  as  the  saturated  solution,  may  be 
kept  in  similarly  protected  bottles,  but  one  five-hundredth 
or  one  one-thousandth  as  strong  as  the  saturated  solu- 
tion should  be  used  the  day  they  are  made. 

The  indicator  (phenolphthalein)  is  made  by  dissolv- 
ing .070  gram  of  the  powder  in  50  c.c.  of  strong  alcohol 
and  making  up  to  100  c.c. 

To  prepare  the  saturated  lime  water,  procure  a  stony 
lump  of  quicklime  (if  it  is  crumbly,  it  is  air-slaked  and 
useless)  as  clean  and  white  as  possible.  Place  it  in  a 


The  Clean  House  39 

porcelain  dish  and  set  on  a  brick  or  on  something  which 
will  not  scorch  or  crack  with  the  heat.  It  is  instructive 
to  weigh  the  lump  and  add  the  calculated  amount  of 
water. 

Ten  grams  CaO  40+16—56  requires  18  grams  H2O 
to  make  CaH2O2  40+24-32=74  grams. 

If  weights  are  not  made,  add  at  least  an  equal  bulk  of 
water  to  the  quicklime.  It  should  begin  to  heat  and 
swell  up  and  soon  fall  to  a  dry  powder,  if  the  lime  was 
quick  and  the  proportions  correct.  The  excess  of  water 
evaporates. 

Drop  the  powder  into  the  stock  bottle,  add  water  to 
four-fifths  fill  the  bottle.  A  lump  weighing  25  grams 
will  serve  for  a  2-liter  bottle. 

Stopper  lightly  and  shake  at  intervals  for  several 
hours,  allow  to  settle  clear,  then  fit  the  stopper  and  de- 
livery tubes.  The  appearance  of  a  scum  or  film  of  solid 
on  any  part  of  the  solution  shows  leakage  of  air. 

To  prepare  a  one  one-hundredth  saturated  solution, 
measure  I  or  2  or  more  liters  of  water  into  whichever 
size  of  bottle  is  chosen,  add  2  c.c.  of  the  indicator  (phenol- 
phthalein)  solution  for  each  liter,  add  cautiously  the  lime 
water,  finally,  drop  by  drop,  with  rotary  shaking,  until  the 
solution  shows  a  faint  color  against  a  white  background, 
remaining  for  5  minutes,  then  add  from  the  burette  just 
10  c.c.  of  the  saturated  lime  water,  stopper  quickly,  mix 
well,  and  place  on  the  shelf  with  the  delivery  tubes,  etc., 
as  with  the  solution  having  the  powder  at  the  bottom. 
This  being  clear,  no  time  for  settling  is  required.  The 
other  strengths  are  made  in  the  same  way,  using  the 
smaller  amounts ;  only  the  one  one-thousandth  is  best 


40  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

made  from  the  one  one-hundredth.  The  two  hundredth 
solution  will  serve  for  the  common  tests :  Wolpert,  Fitz 
shaker,  Cohen  and  Appleyard,  and  for  the  ounce  bottle 
test.  The  one  one-thousandth  is  used  for  what  may  be 
called  the  bubble  method,  because  a  stronger  solution 
would  require  too  much  time. 

In  all  these  dilute  lime  water  tests  the  results  are 
only  approximate  and  comparative  because  of  the  great 
difficulty  of  excluding  air  at  all  points  in  the  process. 

A  quick  and  ready  method  for  estimating  the  carbon 
dioxide  in  the  air  of  inclosed  spaces  is  a  great  desider- 
atum. The  properties  of  the  gas  and  its  relation  to  other 
substances  have  not,  hitherto,  admitted  of  a  mechanical 
measure,  as  a  thermometer  is  a  measure  of  the  degree 
of  heat. 

The  Wolpert  plan  of  a  bead  of  liquid  flowing  down 
a  thread  serves  for  a  day  or  two.  But  the  thread  soon 
becomes  incrusted  and  ceases  to  conduct  the  liquid,  and 
the  reservoir  requires  renewing  frequently. 

The  principle  of  the  Wolpert  tester  and  the  Fitz 
shaker  is  that  to  10  c.c.  of  the  dilute  lime  water  in  the 
graduated  glass  tube  is  added  successively  measured  vol- 
umes of  air,  which  are  shaken  up  with  the  lime  water 
and  by  it  deprived  of  the  CO2  until  the  solution  is  neu- 
tralized and  it  becomes  colorless  and  cloudy  with  the 
insoluble  calcium  carbonate. 

If  out-of-door  air  takes  300  c.c.  to  decolorize  the 
10  c.c.  lime  water,  and  if  the  air  in  schoolroom  A  takes 
200  c.c.,  that  in  schoolroom  B  100  c.c.,  and  in  a  bedroom 
only  50  c.c.,  we  have  a  relative  measure  of  the  badness 
of  the  air.  It  is*  necessary  to  test  the  lime  solution  in 
outside  air  to  be  sure  of  the  method  and  results. 


The  Clean  House  41 

Of  a  one  two-hundredth  solution  10  c.c.  will  require 
300  to  350  c.c.  of  outdoor  air  to  decolorize ;  a  sufficiently 
ventilated  room,  150  to  200  c.c. ;  a  badly  ventilated  room, 
loo  to  150  c.c. ;  an  intolerable  and  quickly  to  be  remedied 
room,  50  to  90  c.c. 

A  set  of  graded  bottles,  2,  4,  6,  8,  10  ounce  as 
bought  of  the  druggist,  may  be  filled  with  water,  car- 
ried to  the  place  to  be  tested  and  the  water  emptied  out. 
The  air  will  rush  in  to  take  its  place  and  thus  be  confined. 
The  2-ounce  bottle  corresponds  to  the  50  to  90  c.c.,  the 
4-ounce  to  the  100  to  150  c.c.,  the  6-ounce  to  the  150  to 
200  c.c.,  the  8-ounce  to  200  to  300  c.c.,  the  lo-ounce  to 
300  to  400  c.c.,  when  the  above  solution  is  introduced  and 
shaken. 

The  same  solution  may  be  used  for  the  time  method. 
The  principle  of  this  is  that  the  higher  the  proportion 
of  CO2  in  the  air  the  quicker  it  will  unite  with  the  lime 
water.1  Select  some  white  glass  500  c.c.  bottles,  round 
or  square  or  oblong,  not  corrugated  or  stamped,  glass- 
stoppered  ;  wash  them  thoroughly,  soaking  at  first  with  a 
little  acid  in  the  water  to  neutralize  any  alkali  left  from 
the  stoppers.  Collect  air  samples  by  emptying  the  water 
from  the  inverted  bottle  held  at  the  point  the  air  is  to  be 
tested  (catch  the  water  in  a  suitable  clean  vessel  and  use 
to  refill  the  bottle  if  more  convenient). 

When  the  desired  number  of  samples  has  been  col- 
lected, bring  to  the  laboratory,  add  10  c.c.  of  the  one  two- 
hundredth  solution,  close  the  bottle  and  shake,  noting  the 
time  to  the  second  when  the  lime  water  was  added  and 
the  color  has  nearly  disappeared.  Out-of-door  air  will 

1  See  any  text-book  for  law  of  partial  pressures. 


42  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

require  3  or  3^/2  minutes,  the  ventilated  room  2  minutes, 
the  badly  ventilated  room  i  minute,  the  intolerable  room 
y>  minute  or  less. 

For  the  bubble  method  the  one  one-thousandth  solu- 
tion is  used  and  a  test  tube  fitted  with  stopper  and  glass 
tubing,  so  that  the  air  is  drawn  through  slowly  and  its 
bubbles  robbed  of  the  CO2  as  it  passes.  As  the  time 
method  shows,  this  can  be  passed  only  slowly  and  in  small 
bubbles  and  is  then  only  comparative,  but  for  a  lecture  ex- 
periment or  for  illustration  of  progressive  pollution  it  is 
very  effective.  Fresh  air  takes  10  minutes,  fairly  good 
air  5  minutes,  bad  air  decolorizes  in  2  or  3  minutes.  If 
no  suction  is  available  it  may  be  produced  from  a  pair  of 
bottles  called  aspirators,  so  connected  that  the  water  from 
one  runs  into  the  other  at  a  lower  level,  and  when  full  the 
positions  are  reversed. 

HUMIDITY    TESTS 

To  show  the  stifling  sensation  of  saturated  air  and 
that  the  sensible  temperature,  or  that  which  we  feel,  is 
that  of  the  wet  bulb,  use  a  small  room  or  closet,  which 
may  be  made  moist  by  hanging  wet  blankets  or  moist 
and  hot  by  steam ;  set  a  pupil  to  record  the  sensations  and 
the  reading  of  the  instruments.1 

EXPERIMENTS   WITH    WATER 

It  is  usually  possible  to  find  a  bottle  holding  2  to  4 
quarts  with  the  bottom  broken  off  evenly,  or  to  have  one 
cut;  support  it  in  some  convenient  manner;  fit  the  neck 
with  a  stopper  carrying  a  glass  tube  furnished  with  rub- 

1  If  the  school  can  have  a  Draper  registering  thermometer  it  will 
give  both  pleasure  and  instruction. 


The  Clean  House  43 

her  ending  and  punch  cork.  Fill  it  four-fifths  full  with 
the  sample  of  soil  to  be  tested,  put  a  fine  wire  gauze  at  the 
bottom  and  some  coarser  gravel  so  as  to  furnish  good 
drainage,  then  the  sifted  earth.  It  adds  to  the  interest 
to  weigh  the  dried  earth  used  and  then  to  measure  the 
water  added  at  the  top  and  note  the  amount  the  earth 
from  different  sources  will  take  up.  Some  clayey  soil 
for  contrast  should  be  obtained. 

(a)  Prepare  test  solutions  as  follows:  Weigh  0.165 
gram  salt  (pure,  dry  NaCl).  Make  up  to  a  liter,   i  c.c.  = 
o.ooi  gram  Cl. 

(b)  Weigh  0.072  gram  KnO3.     Make  up  to  a  liter. 
Measure  out   100  c.c.  of  this  and  make  up  to  a  liter, 
i  c.c.  =  o.oooooi  nitrogen. 

(c)  Weigh    0.315    gram    NH4C1.       Make    up    to    a 
liter.     Measure   out    100  c.c.   of  this   and   make   up   to 
a  liter,     i  c.c.  =  o.ooooi  nitrogen. 

It  is  desirable  to  prepare  fresh  for  experiments, 

(d)  A  solution  containing  i  c.c.  skimmed  milk  in  a 
liter. 

(?)  A  solution  containing  i  c.c.  urine  in  a  liter. 

Varying  quantities  of  these  solutions  and  mixtures  of 
them  may  be  made  by  the  class,  each  for  his  own  filter, 
and  tests  of  the  filtrate  made.  There  may  be  shown  the 
following  facts :  That  the  salt  goes  through  unchanged 
.vhatever  the  mixture  used,  and  therefore  that  the  test 
for  chlorine  is  a  universal  one,  and  its  presence  above 
the  normal  for  the  region  is  a  certain  indication  of  past 
pollution.  That  passed  through  clean  sand  or  earth, 
nitrates  go  through  unchanged ;  but  in  the  presence 
of  considerable  organic  matter,  milk  solutions,  for  in- 


44 


Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 


stance,  they  are  reduced  to  nitrites.  Ammonia  and 
urine  solutions  may  be  converted  into  nitrates  by  slow 
passage  through  unsterilized  loam  or  garden  soil,  but 
they  are  not  changed  by  clean  washed  sand.  Nitrates 
therefore  show  a  previous  contamination,  ammonia  and 
nitrites  show  present  contamination. 

Filtration  after  Coagulation 

Mixtures  of  d  and  c  in  considerable  dilution  with  a 
little  clayey  soil  may  be  used  to  illustrate  the  purification 
by  mechanical  filtration,  now  so  common  for  the  muddy 
river  waters  of  the  South  and  West.  To  i  liter  of  the 
trial  water  add  i  to  10  c.c.  of  an  alum  solution,  5  grams 
to  the  liter ;  mix  well.  If  on  standing  half  an  hour  coag- 
ulation does  not  take  place,  add  10  c.c.  of  a  saturated 
lime  water,  mix  well  and  allow  to  stand.  Experiment 
by  adding  first  one  and  then  the  other  until  it  is  probable 
that  24  hours'  standing  will  give  a  clear  solution  which 
may  be  decanted.  A  much  less  quantity  of  the  reagent 
will  give  a  mixture  which,  run  through  one  of  the  pre- 
pared filters,  will  give  a  clear  solution. 

The  hard  waters  of  the  South  and  West  will  coagu- 
late without  the  addition  of  anything  beside  the  alum 
solution.  The  soft  colored  waters  do  not  contain  enough 
lime  or  sodium  salts  to  decompose  the  aluminum  sulphate, 
and  some  must  be  added. 

Examination  of  Well  Water 

Secure  from  the  chemical  laboratory  a  small  bottle 
of  Nessler  solution  to  test  for  ammonia;  neutral  potas- 
sium chromate  to  use  as  indicator  for  chlorine  titration ; 


The  Clean  House  45 

a  very  small,  well-protected  bottle  of  phenol  disulphonic 
acid  to  test  for  nitrates. 

Give  a  demonstration  to  the  class  of  the  preliminary 
examination  of  a  well  water. 

Examine  the  sample  taken  in  a  clean,  clear  glass 
bottle  with  a  glass  or  new  cork  stopper,  not  brought  in  a 
fruit  jar  with  rubber  ring  or  a  jug  with  old  stopper. 

Note  if  the  water  is  clear  or  if  there  are  organisms, 
as  cyclops  or  daphnia,  specks  of  rust  or  stringy  cobweb, 
like  gray  threads.  Heat  about  100  c.c.  in  a  beaker  capa- 
ble of  holding  three  times  as  much.  Cover  with  a  watch 
glass  while  heating  until  the  moisture  begins  to  condense 
on  the  glass  cover.  Remove  and  at  the  end  of  5  min- 
utes take  a  quick  sniff.  There  should  be  no  unpleasant 
odor. 

Measure  into  clean  beakers  100  c.c.  each  of  distilled 
water,  a  well  known  to  be  good,  the  town,  city,  or  school 
supply,  and  of  the  sample  to  be  tested.  Add  5  drops 
of  the  potassium  chromate  indicator  to  each,  then  from 
a  burette  run  in,  drop  by  drop,  silver  nitrate,  stirring 
gently  after  each  addition  until  a  reddish  color  appears. 
The  chloride  of  silver  is  white  and  is  formed  before  any 
chromate. 

Distilled  water  will  show  red  after  a  drop  or  two; 
the  good  supply  may  take  several  drops,  but  a  bad  well 
often  requires  several  cubic  centimeters.  Good  water 
100  miles  from  the  seacoast  rarely  has  over  one  part 
per  million  of  chlorine.  Nearer  the  sea  there  may  be  ten 
parts,  so  that  the  normal  chlorine  must  be  known  to  the 
expert  analyst. 

To  test  for  nitrates,  which  always  accompany  chlorine 


46  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

in  bad  wells,  evaporate  2  c.c.  of  each  of  the  water  sam- 
ples tested  for  chlorine  just  to  dryness  on  a  warm  bath 
or  plate. 

Three-inch  porcelain  dishes  are  best.  Add  5  drops 
of  the  prepared  phenol  disulphonic  acid,  moisten  the  dish 
wherever  the  water  has  dried,  and  neutralize  the  acid  by 
a  very  dilute  alkaline  solution  of  potassium  hydrate.  If 
there  are  nitrates  a  yellow  color  will  appear  more  or  less 
deep. 

It  is  a  very  polluted  well  which  shows  free  ammonia, 
but  ordinary  distilled  water  almost  always  contains  am- 
monia concentrated  in  its  distillation,  hence  there  must 
be  a  caution  in  making  this  test.  Well-filtered  ground 
water  does  not  show  ammonia. 

None  of  these  things  are  in  themselves  harmful,  but 
they  indicate  certain  underground  happenings  which  are 
to  be  avoided. 

Before  going  into  any  extensive  discussion  of  these 
matters  the  teacher  should  read  some  of  the  text-books 
on  water. 


CHAPTER   IV 

HABITS    OF    CLEANLINESS 

"  Correct  habits,  not  rules,  are  the  proper  preventions  for 
all  sorts  of  defects."  —  Saxon  saying. 

"  A  most  essential  part  of  modern  education  is  the  early 
formation  of  such  habits  with  regard  to  environment  as  shall 
conduce  to  the  best  living." 

T  TEALTH,  like  religion,  is  to  be  such  an  integral 
•*-  -*•  part  of  the  individual  as  to  be  a  daily  performance, 
and  not  a  matter  of  times  and  seasons. 

When  this  is  the  case,  the  person  has  a  set  of  habits 
become  as  much  a  part  of  him — as  involuntarily  per- 
formed— as  breathing.  Such  habits  can  be  readily  im- 
pressed on  the  body  while  it  is  plastic  and  growing, 
that  is,  while  it  is  young.  But  they  are  acquired  only 
with  difficulty  and  by  much  thought  in  after  years. 
Hence  there  is  the  greatest  economy  of  time  and  energy 
in  accustoming  young  people  to  habits  of  daily  living 
which  will  give  them  the  best  chance  in  after  life — the 
chance  to  be  healthy,  happy,  and  efficient  human  beings. 

Grown  people  find  it  such  an  effort  to  change  a  habit 
that  curious  devices  are  resorted  to  to  cheat  them  into 
doing  what  they  agree  is  right  and  desirable,  but  which 
it  takes  an  effort  to  remember  to  do. 

An  excellent  example  of  bondage  to  habit  is  brought 
out  in  the  proposition  made  on  this  day  of  writing  to 
change  the  clocks  of  an  island  town  in  summer  so  that 

47 


48  Sanitation  in  Daily,  Life 

instead  of  breakfasting  three  or  four  hours  after  the 
birds  and  squirrels,  the  people  may  be  up  at  five  or  six 
o'clock  and  enjoy  the  best  of  the  summer  days. 

This  illustrates  the  purely  mental  effect  of  going  by 
the  clock  and  not  by  what  is  wise  and  desirable.  An  in- 
telligent community  has  not  strength  of  mind  or  energy 
enough  to  take  the  great  sanitary  advantage  of  the  life- 
giving  early  hours  without  being  inveigled  into  doing 
right  by  the  clocks. 

Without  becoming  frightened  by  a  discussion  of 
germs  we  may  well  ask  where  do  microbes  come  from? 
We  find  them  in  dirt  and  refuse  and  wherever  there  is 
food  for  them.  They  act  as  decomposing  agents  to  make 
over  waste  matter  into  food  for  plants  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble. Men  and  animals  eat  the  plants,  and  other  microbes 
complete  the  cycle. 

Refuse  thrown  out  on  the  cornfield  or  buried  in  soil 
soon  becomes  absorbed,  but  the  same  refuse  hidden  in 
the  back  yard  under  a  pile  of  boards  where  nothing  green 
can  grow  may  become  dangerous  and  will  be  offensive. 
The  organisms  which  work  in  the  dark  and  often  make 
bad  smells  are  called  anaerobic,  without  air.  Rout  them 
out  into  the  sunlight  and  air  and  they  soon  die.  In  the 
city  there  is  nothing  to  do  but  to  get  rid  of  them,  down 
the  sewer  as  quickly  as  possible,  if  they  are  liquids  or 
fine  solids;  and  to  burn  all  coarse  solids. 

But  how  does  it  happen  that  there  is  so  much  dirt  to 
get  rid  of  ?  Why  must  we  be  on  the  lookout  all  the  time  ? 

Largely  because  we  are  careless  and  thoughtless  and 
leave  refuse  about  to  be  looked  after  by  the  microbes, 
which  are  doing  their  best  to  help  us. 


Habits  of  Cleanliness  49 

That  is,  we  have  not  acquired  good  habits  of  cleanli- 
ness— never  to  leave  wastes  about,  but  to  get  rid  of  them 
for  good  and  all  as  soon  as  possible. 

These  habits  will  become  second  nature  very  soon  if 
we  will  take  pains  for  a  little  time.  If  we  will  think  for 
a  short  time,  then  our  habits  will  take  care  of  themselves 
and  we  can  think  of  other  things. 

We  have  certain  inherent  capacities  as  to  bodily 
strength,  length  of  life,  etc.,  but  it  lies  largely  with  our- 
selves to  adopt  a  mode  of  life  which  may  make  an  actual 
difference  in  height,  weight  and  physical  strength  and 
intellectual  capacity.  An  eminent  physician  says  that 
"most  people  die  prematurely  through  needless  exposure 
to  infection,  improper  food,  excessive  drinking,  impure 
air,  diet  of  various  kinds,  unhealthy  occupations,  im- 
proper clothing,"  etc. 

These  essential  habits  are  largely  connected  with 
breathing,  eating,  and  drinking  (air,  water,  and  food), 
together  with  sleep,  exercise,  and  cleanliness. 

Every  man  who  hopes  to  make  a  success  of  his  life 
work — whatever  that  may  prove  to  be — must  get  into 
the  habit  of  forming  good  habits,  of  taking  infinite  pains 
habitually  to  fashion  his  character  in  the  right  way. 

If  heredity  has  hampered  one's  life,  it  is  so  much  the 
more  desirable  that  the  one  who  has  little  force  to  expend 
should  acquire  habits  of  doing  the  right  thing,  and  so 
husbanding  both  physical  strength  and  mental  power. 

"Even  inanimate  things  acquire  habits — a  lock  works 
better  after  being  used  some  time ;  it  costs  less  trouble 
to  fold  a  paper  when  it  has  been  folded  already.  This 
saving  of  trouble  is  due  to  the  essential  nature  of  habit, 


50  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

which  brings  it  about  that  to  reproduce  the  effect  once 
gained  a  less  amount  of  the  cause  is  required.  The 
sounds  of  a  violin  improve  by  use  in  the  hands  of  an  able 
artist  because  the  fibers  of  the  wood  at  last  contract  habits 
of  vibration  conformed  to  harmonious  relations.  This  is 
what  gives  such  inestimable  value  to  musical  instru- 
ments1 that  have  belonged  to  great  masters." 

If  inanimate  things  can  acquire  desirable  habits  of 
value  to  the  world,  shall  human  beings  take  less  pains 
to  make  themselves  of  as  much  value  as  possible  at  as 
little  cost  of  nervous  energy  as  may  be  ?  For  it  is  cer- 
tainly true  that  "habit  diminishes  the  conscious  attention 
with  which  acts  are  performed." 

Thus  one  may  involuntarily  and  without  effort  do  the 
right  thing  at  the  right  time,  leaving  the  mind  free  to 
decide  upon  matters  requiring  higher  thought.  If  prac- 
tice did  not  make  perfect,  nor  habit  economize  the  ex- 
pense of  nervous  and  muscular  energy,  man  with  his 
multifarious  impulses  to  action  would  be  in  a  sorry 
plight. 

Children  and  youth  learn  so  easily  and  adults  with 
such  difficulty  that  the  plan  of  education  should  include 
the  daily  habits  which  make  for  long  life  and  immunity 
from  disease.  "The  more  of  the  details  of  our  daily  life 
we  can  hand  over  to  the  effortless  custody  of  automatism, 
the  more  our  "higher  powers  of  mind  will  be  set  free  for 
their  own  proper  work."  "Could  the  young  but  realize 
how  soon  they  will  become  mere  walking  bundles  of 
habits,  they  would  give  more  heed  to  their  conduct  while 
in  a  plastic  state."2 

1 M.  Leon  Dumont,  Essay  on  Habit,  Revue  Philosophic,  Vol.  'i ,  p.  324. 
2 James's  "Psychology,"  pp.  122-127. 


Habits  of  Cleanliness  51 

Whenever  the  sanitary  enthusiast  begs  his  friends  to 
take  more  pains  to  do  certain  right  things  or  to  avoid 
certain  doubtful  ones  he  is  met  with  such  remarks  as, 
"I  cannot  remember,"  "It  takes  too  much  time,"  "It  is  too 
much  trouble  to  think  of  that,"  etc. 

Right  sanitary  actions  should  not  require  conscious 
thought.  They  should  be  done  involuntarily  without 
the  effort  of  thinking. 

Professor  James's  two  important  maxims  are:  (i) 
"Make  our  nervous  system  our  ally  instead  of  our  enemy 
— make  automatic  and  habitual,  as  early  as  possible,  as 
many  useful  actions  as  we  can." 

(2)  "Never  suffer  an  exception  to  occur  until  the 
new  habit  is  securely  rooted  in  your  life."  It  is  far  more 
costly  to  learn  by  our  mistakes  than  by  patient  repetition 
of  right  ways  which  soon  become  unconscious  acts. 

The  habits  to  be  contracted  early  are  both  personal 
and  social,  the  reasons  are  explained  in  treatises  on  per- 
sonal hygiene  and  in  those  on  community  sanitation. 
At  this  point  only  a  general  survey  is  needed.  Those 
concerning  personal  hygiene  are  for  the  most  part  man- 
datory, as  bathe  daily,  clean  the  teeth  after  every  meal 
and  on  rising  and  going  to  bed,  etc. 

One  of  the  most  important  habits  to  acquire  is  that 
of  keeping  one's  fingers  and  all  other  objects  of  use  away 
from  nose  and  mouth.  Then  the  hands  will  be  far  less 
dangerous.  This  fingering  of  the  face  seems  to  be  a  relic 
of  savage  days. 

Eyes  and  nose  are  subject  to  disorders  of  the  greatest 
infective  power,  and  hands  transmit  to  a  great  variety  of 
objects  handled  by  others.  That  is  why  personal  habits 


52  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

of  this  kind  come  into  a  consideration  of  community 
sanitation. 

In  the  light  of  modern  knowledge  one  of  the  bad 
habits  is  wetting  the  finger  to  turn  the  leaves  of  books. 
This  not  only  soils  the  leaf  and  causes  it  to  turn  yellow^ 
but  since  the  mouth  harbors  many  kinds  of  dormant 
germs,  it  is  a  dangerous  proceeding  as  well  as  an  untidy 
one. 

It  is  astonishing  how  few  people  have  outgrown  the 
child's  habit  of  putting  things  in  the  mouth.  "Out  of  the 
mouth  cometh  all  uncleanness."  This  habit  is  not  a  little 
to  blame  for  the  spread  of  children's  diseases  and  for  all 
those  which  find  an  agreeable  home  in  nose  and  throat. 

The  habit  of  biting  an  apple  and  then  handing  it  to  a 
little  friend  is  most  pernicious. 

Do  not  cough  into  free  air  or  into  your  hand.  The 
fine  spray  even  in  speaking,  when  there  is  mucus  in  the 
throat,  may  and  usually  is  sent  for  a  number  of  feet  away 
from  the  person.  That  is  why  grip  and  tonsilitis  spread 
so  rapidly  in  crowded  shops  and  cars. 

If  the  hand  catches  this  spray  it  stops  it,  to  be  sure, 
but  carries  it  to  the  friend's  hand  or  to  the  book  or  bag 
one  is  carrying.  Use  a  handkerchief  or  piece  of  cloth 
always,  and  have  plenty  of  them. 

Each  morning  the  greatest  pains  should  be  taken  to 
have  face,  hands,  and  finger  nails  really  clean,  not  just 
clean  to  appearance.  Washable  gloves  put  on  when  the 
hands  are  clean  are  a  protection  against  others'  care- 
lessness. 

After  handling  books,  chairs,  banisters,  coats,  etc., 
wash  the  hands  again  and  wipe  them  on  a  clean  towel. 
A  dirty  towel  is  often  the  worst  carrier  of  infection. 


Habits  of  Cleanliness  53 

Daintiness  in  these  respects  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant habits  to  form.  Cheese  cloth  may  be  used  instead 
of  towels  and  may  be  washed  and  dried  on  the  school 
premises.  Ironing  is  not  necessary. 

Another  very  necessary  habit  is  care  of  pocket  hand- 
kerchiefs. No  matter  how  inexpensive  the  material, 
cloths  of  some  kind  should  be  used  to  protect  the  hands, 
and  therefore  they  should  be  large  enough  and  there 
should  be  enough  of  them  to  prevent  re-using  when  one 
is  wet  or  soiled. 

There  are  more  sanitary  sins  of  commission  in  con- 
nection with  lack  of  sufficient  handkerchiefs  than  with 
any  other  one  thing  except,  possibly,  spitting  on  the  floor. 

The  spread  of  the  deadly  spinal  meningitis  has  been 
pretty  clearly  traced  in  several  cases  to  mothers  who 
were  carrying  sick  children  lending  the  soiled  handker- 
chief to  the  next  child. 

The  mothers  will  sigh  over  the  multiplication  of 
handkerchiefs  and  towels,  but  rightly  used  (they  are  not 
for  wiping  desks  or  boots)  such  accessories  to  cleanness 
will  more  than  pay  in  good  health. 

The  habits  affecting  community  sanitation  are  largely 
prohibitive.  Do  not  spit  in  the  street,  in  the  car  or  in 
the  public  paths,  because  it  may  infect  others.  Do  not  go 
about  with  dirty  hands  and  finger  nails,  because  not  only 
may  your  own  body  suffer  from  the  entrance  of  germs 
by  means  of  scratches,  but  your  hands  touch  others 
and  others'  property,  and  may  distribute  undesirable 
organisms. 

The  tendency  to  get  rid  of  waste  material  with  little 
trouble  to  one's  self  and  without  thought  of  the  effect  on 


54  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

one's  neighbor  is  seen  in  the  sweeping  of  houses,  halls, 
and  shops  into  the  streets,  in  the  throwing  of  papers  and 
luncheon  boxes  under  seats  in  public  parks,  and  in  the 
scattering  of  peanut  shells  in  cars.  No  surer  test  of  the 
general  sanitary  intelligence  of  a  community  can  be  made 
than  the  inspection  of  a  suburban  train,  both  as  to  its 
ventilation  and  cleanliness.  The  public  carrier  and  the 
public  caretaker  take  pains  only  to  the  point  demanded 
by  the  public  patronizing  them.  The  grocery  store  has 
responded  to  this  demand.  Have  the  schoolhouse  and 
the  city  hall  and  post  office  in  your  vicinity  so  responded  ? 

The  best  exercise  for  a  class  will  be  to  make  out  a 
list  of  "don'ts"  from  their  studies  and  from  observation 
in  their  own  localities.  The  country  school  will  have 
one  set,  the  suburban  another,  and  the  city  school  a 
third,  with  many  variations. 

This  opens  the  way  for  a  study  of  the  next  chapter. 
What  is  a  community  to  do  in  order  to  demand  right 
and  safe  habits  from  itself,  namely,  the  making  of  rules 
and  regulations  which  mean  the  acquirement  of  habitual 
ways  of  doing  things  of  the  most  advantage  to  the  com- 
munity ? 

The  habit  of  putting  wastes  in  a  proper  place  pre- 
pared for  each  kind  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  sanitary 
habits. 

This  should  be  enforced  in  school.  The  schoolhouse 
and  schoolyard  should  be  the  example  of  tidiness.  It 
takes  only  a  few  seconds  for  each  one  to  do  the  right 
thing,  and  taxation  for  paying  public  scavengers  is  light- 
ened and  safety  from  distributed  dirt  insured. 

The  care  of  clothes  is  a  sanitary  problem, 


Habits  of  Cleanliness  55 

Loosely  woven  wool  is  the  warmest  covering  but  col- 
lects the  most  dust  and  is  most  difficult  to  wash.  Loosely 
woven  cotton  or  silk  is  next  best  but  soon  loses  its  neat 
look  and  becomes  limp  and  twisted. 

Finely  woven  cotton  or  linen  holds  its  texture  and 
shape  best  under  hard  usage,  sheds  dust  and  cleans 
easily,  but  conducts  heat  rapidly  and  is  not  suitable  for 
cold  weather. 

Under  the  conditions  under  which  city  children  live — 
dusty  streets,  dirty  cars  and  staircases,  crowds  of  people 
and  sooty  air — clothes  should  be  frequently  changed, 
stockings  especially.  In  the  city,  water  is  abundant  and 
there  is  no  excuse  for  not  keeping  clean. 


ILLUSTRATIVE  EXPERIMENTS 
TESTS%  FOR  CLEANNESS.     DUST  ON  THINGS 

In  the  Navy  the  inspector  wipes  the  inside  of  the  soup 
kettle  with  a  fine  cambric  handkerchief.  No  discolora- 
tion of  the  immaculately  clean  linen  should  occur.  Not 
all  furniture  may  be  kept  in  such  order,  but  an  approxi- 
mation may  be  made. 

Have  several  squares  of  fine  bleached  cheese  cloth 
six  or  eight  inches  square.  Test  desks,  chairs,  walls, 
tables,  window  sills,  door  handles,  banisters,  etc.,  to  see 
if  they  are  free  from  black  dirt.  The  moist  hand  will 
take  up  even  more  than  the  cloth. 

For  the  dampened  duster  see  page  5. 

Flies  are  tabooed ;  but  if  the  windows  are  spotted,  a 
cloth  moistened  with  a  little  alcohol  may  be  used  to  wipe 


ij6  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

them  clean.  This  is  done  not  only  for  neatness,  but  as  a 
sanitary  precaution,  since  flyspecks  may  distribute  disease 
germs.  Put  used  squares  in  a  pail  of  water  at  once, 
and  wash  out  when  convenient. 

With  floors  prevention  is  half  the  battle.  Do  not 
bring  in  dirt  on  shoes  and  clothing.  Unless  windows 
are  screened,  or  the  air  is  forced  in  through  a  screened 
chamber,  dust  will  blow  in,  if  the  house  is  on  a  street 
or  near  a  plowed  field.  Hang  a  large  piece  of  the 
dampened  cheese  cloth  across  the  opened  window,  pin- 
ning it  on  so  that  the  air  must  pass  through  it  and  leave 
the  dust  behind.  Note  the  time  when  it  becomes  dark- 
ened and  when  it  begins  to  bag  out,  showing  that  it  is 
clogged.  Do  the  same  before  the  ventilating  inlet. 
Dampened  sawdust  is  one  of  the  best  agents  for  taking 
up  dirt  from  a  hardwood  floor.  It  may  be  burned  and 
so  all  particles  disposed  of.  Bits  of  dampened,  not  wet, 
newspaper  are  next  best,  and  for  the  same  reason- 
Dampened  cloth  fastened  to  a  broom  or  bristle  brush 
may  be  tried. 

When  a  room  has  been  cleaned,  expose  Petri  dishes 
for  10  minutes,  cover  and  set  aside  for  48  hours.  If  the 
room  is  free  from  dust  half  an  hour  after  cleaning,  it  is 
fit  to  live  in,  that  is,  if  there  are  not  more  than  five  or 
six  colonies. 

EXERCISES 

Observe : 

Do  you  keep  your  hands  so  clean  that  the  water 
shows  little  change  in  washing? 

Do  you  avoid  touching  walls  and  banisters,  chairs 
and  tables  unnecessarily? 


Habits  of  Cleanliness  57 

Do  you  notice  dirt  on  your  hands  afterward? 

Do  you  keep  your  mouth  closed  in  cars  and  dusty 
places  ? 

Do  you  refrain  from  putting  pencils  and  other  things 
into  your  mouth? 

Do  you  refrain  from  wetting  your  finger  to  turn 
leaves  ? 

Do  you  keep  your  hands  dry  so  that  they  do  not 
gather  dirt? 

Do  you  breathe  deeply  without  needing  to  think  ? 

Do  you  notice  stuffy  air? 

Do  you  do  your  part  toward  a  clean  house  and  city, 
and  avoid  throwing  papers,  etc.,  anywhere  but  in  the 
proper  receptacles? 

Do  you  avoid  spitting? 

Do  you  avoid  coughing  into  the  free  air? 

Don'ts : 

Don't  live  in  foul  air. 

Don't  drink  impure  water. 

Don't  buy  dirty  milk. 

Don't  use  stale  milk. 

Don't  eat  food  badly  cooked.  Take  cooking  lessons 
somewhere. 

Don't  kiss  dirty  children. 

Don't  mouth  dirty  money. 

Don't  fail  to  wash  your  hands  often. 

Don't  rub  your  eyes  with  dirty  fingers. 

Don't  forget  to  put  the  shovel  of  dry  earth  or  ashes 
down  the  privy  vault  in  the  country.  Take  a  lesson 
from  the  cat. 


58  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

Don't  throw  apple  cores  and  banana  skins  out  for  the 
flies  to  breed  in. 

Don't  leave  the  water  in  the  flower  vase  more  than 
twelve  hours. 

Don't  forget  to  wash  and  scrub  your  hands  after 
lunch. 

Don't  wipe  your  hands  on  your  clothes. 


CHAPTER   V 

SANITARY  REGULATIONS 

"  Within  the  past  few  years  the  knowledge  of  the  causes 
of  disease  has  become  so  far  advanced  that  it  is  a  matter  of 
practical  certainty  that  by  unstinted  application  of  known 
methods  of  investigation,  and  consequent  controlling  action, 
all  epidemic  disease  could  be  abolished  within  a  period  so  short 
as  fifty  years.  It  is  merely  the  employment  of  the  means 
at  our  command. 

"  Where  there  is  one  man  of  first-rate  intelligence  em- 
ployed in  detecting  the  disease-producing  parasites,  their 
special  conditions  of  life,  and  the  way  to  bring  them  to  an 
end,  there  should  be  a  thousand.  It  should  be  as  much  the 
purpose  of  civilized  governments  to  protect  their  citizens  in 
this  respect  as  it  is  to  provide  defence  against  human  aggres- 
sion. .  .  .  The  masses  of  the  people  are  not  yet  aware  of  the 
situation.  ...  It  is  certain  that  democracy  will  demand  [that 
the  authorities]  shall  put  into  practice  the  power  of  nature- 
control  which  has  been  gained  by  mankind  and  shall  exert 
every  sinew  to  obtain  more." 

—  E.  Ray  Lankaster,  in  "The  Kingdom  of  Man." 

THE  educational  effect  of  legal  enactment  and  en- 
forcement none  should  know  better  than  health 
officers.  But  it  is  also  painfully  evident  to  those  in 
whose  hands  lies  the  enforcement  of  sanitary  law  that 
this  education  has  not  gone  very  far  nor  very  deep, 
that  year  after  year  the  same  sort  of  work  has  to  be 
done  as  if  it  had  never  been  done  before.  The  non- 
intelligent  masses  rebel  against  the  rules  they  do  not 
understand  and  evade  all  that  they  find  it  safe  to  ignore. 

59 


60  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

It  is  like  sweeping  back  the  sea  with  a  broom,  since 
each  year  bripgs  a  fresh  contingent  of  ignorance.  A  re- 
spect for  the  power  of  the  law  is  inculcated  by  the  en- 
forcement of  the  ordinance  against  spitting  in  public 
conveyances,  but  no  permanent  cure  for  the  evil  habit 
can  be  expected  until  the  children  and  young  loafers  also 
are  reached  by  the  reasons  why  it  is  dangerous. 

Until  both  parents  and  children  understand  the  rea- 
son why  rubbish  in  the  streets  and  garbage  in  the  back 
alleys  are  not  to  be  tolerated,  it  will  continue  to  be  found 
there  in  spite  of  city  ordinances  and  health  officers. 

Sanitary  regulations  are  of  little  value  unless  they 
are  generally  known  and  obeyed,  and  to  be  obeyed  cheer- 
fully they  must  be  understood. 

Each  town  has  or  should  have  certain  regulations  for 
the  protection  of  its  citizens. 

Each  state  has  also  laws  in  relation  to  the  protection 
of  the  people  in  such  cases  as  affect  a  wider  community. 
These  are  often  compiled  in  manuals  which  may  be  ob- 
tained. 

Finally  the  Federal  government  has  regulations 
which  affect  long  distance  travel,  imported  goods,  etc. 

Each  schoql  should  have  copies  of  these  laws  in  its 
library  and  the  fact  of  their  existence  should  be  called  to 
the  attention  of  each  pupil,  even  if  they  are  not  read 
to  the  whole  school. 

Laws  are  for  our  protection  and  not  for  our  oppres- 
sion. As  long  as  we  are  ignorant  and  selfish  we  shall 
be  a  menace  to  our  neighbor  in  our  careless  and  ignorant 
ways,  and  he  has  a  right  to  claim  government  protection 
against  us. 


Sanitary  Regulations  61 

Many  of  these  regulations  seem  at  first  sight  oppress- 
ive and  unnecessarily  costly,  but  in  the  long  run'  they 
will  be  found  to  be  as  fair  as  they  can  be  made. 

Injurious  Trades  and  Factory  Inspection 

Two  great  enemies  of  indoor  workers  are  close  air 
and  dust,  gritty  or  linty  or  poison  fumes.  But  individ- 
ual carelessness  and  unclean  habits  make  dangerous  the 
handling  of  such  materials  as  lead,  paint,  or  arsenical 
products. 

Factory  inspection  includes  inspection  of  air  space, 
floors,  toilet  accommodations,  and  most  of  the  general 
environment ;  but  instruction  of  the  workers  as  to  their 
part  in  co-operating  to  maintain  a  sanitary  condition  is 
too  often  lacking. 

In  most  of  the  dangerous  trades,  nelps  are  provided 
which  the  workers  are  too  lazy  to  use.  Sanitary  instruc- 
tion must  go  so  deeply  into  the  daily  lives  of  the  people 
that  nothing  will  seem  too  much  trouble,  if,  by  that 
means,  health  and  capacity  for  work  may  be  secured. 

Inspection 

Tenement  inspection  shows  the  same  lack  of  attention 
to  law-s  of  health.  School  inspection  is  only  just  being 
supplemented  by  the  work  of  the  school  nurse,  who  is 
really  a  teacher.  All  inspection  should  be  supplemented 
in  this  way  by  practical  instruction  in  the  means  of  carry- 
ing out  the  regulations.  All  rules,  however  carefully 
drawn,  will  fail  to  meet  exceptional  circumstances,  and 
intelligence  must  take  into  account  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples. 


62  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life  ' 

Education 

Sanitary  science  has  advanced  so  much  faster  than 
popular  knowledge  that  many  communities  get  their 
education  in  preventive  measures  only  after  they  are 
confronted  with  an  epidemic. 

The  case  of  the  New  Orleans  epidemic  of  yellow 
fever  in  1904  is  in  point.  Although  flie  suppression  of 
yellow  fever  in  Cuba  was  the  most  remarkable  result 
the  world  has  ever  seen  of  the  application  of  scientific 
knowledge  to  immediate  beneficent  result,  the  officials  of 
the  Gulf  States  did  not  fully  accept  the  mosquito  theory 
and  thus  did  not  suppress  the  trouble  in  the  beginning. 
It  required  the  presence  of  the  United  States  authorities 
and  constant  lectures  and  ward  meetings  to  educate  even 
the  intelligent  people  to  the  true  remedies. 

Education  in  sanitary  matters,  knowledge  of  what  are 
proper  precautions  and  a  belief  that  such  precautions  pay 
in  the  end  must  be  carried  on  day  by  day — must  be  the 
aim  of  all  wishers  for  human  progress. 

Another  case  in  which  an  epidemic  was  the  costly 
teacher  was  in  the  camps  of  the  United  States  soldiers 
at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  War  in  1898.  Typhoid  fever 
became  epidemic  in  the  camps  situated  in  the  Southern 
Atlantic  States  to  such  an  extent  that  more  than  one-fifth 
of  the  soldiers  had  it,  and  it  was  brought  away  to  an  ex- 
tent that  undid  the  work  of  twenty  years  in  suppressing 
it.  Nearly  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  officers  contracted  the 
disease.  It  was  conclusively  proved  (to  our  everlasting 
shame)  that  flies  were  the  chief  carriers  of  the  disease. 
But  this  was  possible  only  because  the  precaution  of  cov- 
ering and  disinfecting  the  excreta  was  not  attended  to. 


Sanitary  Regulations  63 

There  should  not  have  been  flies  to  carry  the  disease  and 
the  first  case  should  have  been  the  last.1 

The  plague  of  flies  may  be  stopped  when  breeding 
places  are  screened,  as  manure  heaps  in  the  country ; 
when  streets  and  alleys  are  kept  clean  in  the  city;  and 
when  restaurant  and  house  garbage  is  removed  daily — 
in  short,  when  nothing  is  left  about  for  flies  to  feed  upon.2 

Let  us  protect  all  foods  from  flies.  If  the  community 
cannot  or  will  not  prevent  their  propagation,  then  indi- 
viduals must  resort  to  fly  paper,  insect  powder,  and  occa- 
sional fumigation. 

Official  Public  Health  Work 

At  Washington,  D.  C,  Surgeon-General  Walter 
Wyman  is  in  charge  of  the  Public  Health  and  Marine 
Hospital  service  under  the  Treasury  Department.  The 
Hygienic  Laboratory  carries  on  researches  and  issues 
bulletins.  Conferences  of  state  and  territorial  health 
officers  are  held  in  Washington. 

All  the  states  have  Boards  of  Health  with  offices  at 
the  state  capital.  Many  of  them  issue  reports  of  great 
interest  and  value  which  may  be  obtained  on  application 
or  through  representatives. 

Several  of  these  boards  issue  bulletins  and  pamphlets 
for  free  distribution,  notably  Maine,  New  Hampshire, 

1  Walter  Reed,  Victor  C.  Vaughan,  E.  O.  Shakespeare,  "  Report  on 
the  Origin  and  Spread  of  Typhoid  Fever  in  U.  S.  Military  Camps  dur- 
ing the  Spanish  War  of  1898."  Government  Document. 

Dr.  L.  O.  Howard,  "  A  Contribution  to  the  Study  of  the  Insect 
Fauna  of  Human  Excrement."  Proceedings  of  the  Washington  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences,  Vol.  II. 

2W.  F.  ISritton  Donn,  State  Entomologist,  "The  Common  House 
Fly  in  Its  Relation  to  the  Public  Health."  Yale  Medical  Journal^ 
January,  1906. 


64  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

Vermont,  Connecticut,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Illinois,  Iowa,  Wisconsin.  *  Michigan  has  for 
many  years  given  much  attention  to  the  dissemination  of 
popular  literature  on  sanitary  topics.  A  series  of  teach- 
ers' bulletins,  reaching  a  circulation  of  over  a  quarter  of 
a  million,  have  been  issued  since  1895  t°  enable  them  to 
comply  with  the  law  of  that  year  requiring  instruction  to 
be  given  in  relation  to  contagious  diseases  and  other 
health  matters.  One  of  these  gives  an  interesting  esti- 
mate on  the  money  value  of  health  work. 

In  order  to  have  information,  well-equipped  labora- 
tories are  now  being  installed,  with  a  corps  of  investiga- 
tors and  routine  workers.  Visit  that  in  the  locality  of 
the  school,  if  possible. 

From  these  offices  a  surprising  amount  of  informa- 
tion in  the  way  of  bulletins  and  reports  is  being  issued, 
most  of  it  free.  One  has  no  excuse  for  ignorance. 

The  State  Board  of  Health  of  New  Hampshire  issued 
a  special  Sanitary  Bulletin  for  gratuitous  distribution 
throughout  the  state  on  scarlet  fever,  "in  order  that  a 
wider  and  more  general  knowledge  of  the  means  and 
measures  necessary  to  the  restriction  and  prevention  of 
scarlet  fever  may  be  disseminated." 

The  town  of  Montclair,  N.  J.,  has  been  a  model  for 
local  supervision.  The  1906  report  says: 

"Its  chief  efforts  have  been  directed,  as  in  former 
years,  towards  preventing  the  spread  of  communicable 
diseases.  Its  efforts  to  prevent  the  spread  of  disease 
center : 

"(i)  In  the  proper  control  of  persons  suffering  with 
communicable  diseases,  including  their  environments. 


Sanitary  Regulations  65 

"(2)   In  safeguarding  the  milk  supply  of  the  town. 

"(3)  In  constant  watchfulness  over  both  pupils  and 
buildings  of  the  public  and  the  parochial  schools. 

"The  oversight  of  the  milk  supply  is  one  of  the  most 
important  if  not  the  most  important  branch  of  work 
which  is  intrusted  to  a  Board  of  Health." 

Comparatively  few  householders  know  what  the  law 
requires  until  they  come  in  contact  with  it.  The  tene- 
ment dweller  and  the  recent  immigrant  can  know  little 
of  the  best  ways  of  keeping  clean  in  a  strange  country. 

Instructive  nursing  has  found  its  place  and  instructive 
inspection  should  be  introduced  in  every  village.  The 
school  and  the  Woman's  Club  can  each  do  a  part  in  be- 
coming a  source  of  information  and  a  repository  of  the 
best  appliances.  There  should  be  one  or  more  trained 
women  inspectors  in  each  town  and  city  ward. 

In  1905,  Prof.  J.  Pease  Norton,  of  the  Department  of 
Economics,  Yale  University,  presented  a  paper  to  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science 
in  which  he  gave  statistics  to  back  up  his  plea  for  gov- 
ernment attention  to  the  great  wastes  in  human  life  by 
preventable  disease.  He  claimed  that  of  the  people  then 
living  over  eight  millions  would  die  of  tuberculosis,  that 
during  the  next  ten  years  more  than  six  millions  of  in- 
fants under  two  years  would  die ;  eight  millions  will  per- 
ish of  pneumonia,  six  millions  from  heart  and  kidney 
diseases.  Of  these  twenty-eight  millions,  representing  a 
potential  value  of  $5.000  each,  or  even  $2,000  each, 
a  tremendous  money  waste  is  going  on  which  might  be 
prevented  by  an  expenditure  of  perhaps  ten  per  cent,  of 
the  amount  in  money  and  a  little  time  and  thought  by 


66  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

eacli  one.  A  committee  of  one  hundred  has  been  or- 
ganized to  work  for  public  enlightenment  and  for  a  public 
sentiment  resulting  in  government  aid. 

A  modest  effort  had  already  started  under  the  name 
of  the  Health  Education  League,1  whose  work  is  the  cir- 
culation of  booklets  giving  an  epitome  of  the  practical 
knowledge  on  certain  definite  points.  There  is  little 
excuse  today  for  any  one  to  go  ignorant  of  the  various 
precautions  to  be  taken  to  ward  off  disease. 

In  the  state  of  Connecticut  there  is  a  woman  deputy 
factory  inspector,  recommended  to  the  factory  inspector 
by  a  commission  of  three  women  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor. This  deputy  is  to  consider  whatever  relates  to 
the  health  and  welfare  of  the  50,000  working  women  in 
'the  state.  This-  includes  inspection  of  sanitary  fixtures, 
cleanliness,  ventilation,  etc. 

Law  is  the  foundation  of  state  medicine — the  protec- 
tion of  the  ignorant,  the  helpless,  and  the  thoughtless. 
Many  a  school-teacher  allows  the  schoolhouse  to  become 
unsanitary  because  it  does  not  seem  important  in  com- 
parison with  the  lessons;  many  a  shop  manager  never 
thinks  about  it;  and  many  a  tenement  owner  says,  "Oh, 
well,  they  need  not  hire  it" ;  or,  "They  do  not  want  any 
better."  Then  the  law  steps  in  and  says,  "But  they 
should  want  better,  and  if  they  are  to  become  good  citi- 
zens and  efficient  workers  they  must  have  better." 

So  important  is  this  education  through  sanitary  regu- 
lation that  the  states  of  New  York,  Texas,  Pennsylvania, 
and  the  District  of  Columbia  have  each  a  Department  oi 
Health,  with  a  single  commissioner  and  county  health 

JWith  offices  at  113  Devonshire  Street,  Boston. 


Sanitary  Regulations  67 

officers  and  inspectors.  Massachusetts  has  just  inau- 
gurated a  system  of  district  inspectors. 

Many  states  have  milk  commissions. 

All  this  effort  to  enforce  the  laws  is  a  great  factor  in 
instructing  the  people  in  safe  ways  of  carrying  on  their 
daily  life,  for  the  laws  are  almost  always  ahead  of  the 
general  belief  concerning  the  necessity  for  them.  For 
instance,  the  city  of  New  York  has  a  provision  in  its  sani- 
tary code  that  all  food  in  the  streets  shall  be  protected, 
but  it  is  not  enforced  because  the  general  sentiment  of  the 
people  is  not  ready  for  it. 

Diseases  that  are  carried  by  flies,  fleas,  mosquitoes, 
water,  etc.,  and  that  are  carried  from  one  person  to  an- 
other by  contact  and  by  handling  of  food  or  utensils, 

MAY    BE    PREVENTED. 

WHY   ARE    THEY    NOT    PREVENTED? 

Because  the  people  do  not  believe  that  the  rules  of 
health  are  necessary  and  they  are  not  willing  to  take  the 
trouble  to  follow  them. 

In  the  Panama  Canal  zone  they  collect  all  garbage 
and  rubbish  every  day;  even  shavings,  shingles,  empty 
barrels,  the  litter  of  house  building,  are  removed  before 
night  and  burned.  No  rubbish  of  any  sort  is  allowed 
to  accumulate. 

Large  bodies  of  men  are  employed  in  every  town  of 
the  zone  keeping  every  pool  of  stagnant  water  well 
covered  with  crude  petroleum.  The  banks  of  the  streams 
are  constantly  patrolled  and  every  small  pool  or  slack 
water  bay  is  filled  up  and  all  the  work  is  under  most 
careful  inspection. 

All  this  shows  what  might  be  done  in  our  towns  if  we 
only  believed  it  was  worth  while. 


68      ^  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

In  England  they  have  come  to  feel  that  the  great 
question  of  the  day  is  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  PKOIM.K, 
and  they  have  formed  a  National  League  for  physical 
education  and  improvement. 

The  late  Lord  Derby  said  sanitary  instruction  is  of 
the  two  more  important  than  sanitary  legislation. 

Nothing  can  supersede  the  value  of  personal  and  pri- 
vate care  to  relieve  the  public  officers  of  so  much  duty  as 
can  be  carried  out  by  individuals. 

ILLUSTRATIVE  EXPERIMENTS 
EXERCISE  IN  INSPECTION 

Secure  the  loan  of  a  house  for  inspection.  Observe 
the  streets  and  alleys  adjacent;  watch  for  the  water  cart 
if  summer,  for  the  sanitary  collector  of  ashes  and  gar- 
bage. Note  if  the  carts  are  covered ;  if  the  men  take 
care  not  to  scatter  or  spill  or  drip :  if  they  come  as  often 
as  they  should.  Note  how  often  and  how  well  the  streets 
are  cleaned. 

Pass  through  the  gate,  examine  the  back  premises ; 
note  any  broken  bottle  or  bent  metal  which  can  hold  a 
cup  of  water ;  note  if  roof  gutters  leave  pools ;  note  any 
soft  refuse  food  for  flies ;  note  rubbish  in  general.  Espe- 
cially look  after  the  garbage  can ;  see  if  it  is  of  light 
metal  so  that  it  may  be  cleaned  on  emptying.  (If  it  is 
sunk  in  the  ground  and  protected  by  a  light  frame  and 
heavy  cover,  after  the  manner  of  the  Stephenson,  it  keeps 
cool  and  does  not  become  offensive.) 

It  is  desirable  that  in  tenement  houses  and  small 
apartment  houses  all  garbage  receptacles  shall  be  emp- 


Sanitary  Regulations  69 

tied  and  cleaned  each  day.  Some  public  co-operation 
.must  be  obtained  to  force  this  upon  careless  tenants. 

If  all  is  proved  to  be  really  clean  and  well  cared  for 
outside,  pass  to  the  area  or  basement  door.  Note  if  this 
space  is  damp.  Enter  the  basement  or  cellar.  Go  in 
quickly  from  the  outside  air  and  observe  the  presence  of 
any  kind  of  odor  and  its  source — decay,  mold,  gas,  stale 
or  stuffy  air.  Follow  into  kitchen  and  laundry,  dining 
room,  hall  and  chambers,  or  such  of  these  rooms  as  there 
are.  Show  the  friend  how  better  ventilation  could  be 
obtained  by  windows  raised  or  lowered,  and  board  or 
cloth  screens  inserted  or  placed  outside,  cross  currents 
obtained,  etc.  Convince  him  that  a  little  more  coal  to 
"heat  all  outdoors"  is  cheaper  than  loss  of  time  and 
doctor's  bills. 

At  this  point  let  the  class  discuss  and  draw  up  a  set 
of  regulations  for  their  own  town  in  the  light  of  all  they 
have  studied,  such  as  would  seem  to  be  conducive  to 
better  sanitary  conditions  and  not  too  burdensome  to 
carry  out  either  in  regard  to  time  or  money. 

Then  procure  a  copy  of  the  Board  of  Health  regula- 
tions for  the  town  and  for  the  state  and  compare  them  to 
see  if  anything  has  been  omitted. 

The  class  may  prepare  cards  suitable  to  be  hung  up 
in  schoolrooms,  or  one-page  circulars  to  be  distributed 
among  the  people,  stating  clearly  and  concisely  certain 
things  we  do  know  and  avoiding  sensational  phrases  or 
reference  to  things  we  do  not  know. 

Also  the  pupils  should  draw  up  rules  of  conduct  for 
themselves,  and  once  a  week  revise  them  as  they  find  them 
too  stringent  or  too  lax. 

This  kind  of  constructive  exercise  is  of  great  value  to 


•JQ  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

any  one.  Certain  difficulties  stand  out  prominently  which 
would  otherwise  be  overlooked. 

The  cost  of  obtaining  the  requisite  amount  of  fresh 
air  in  a  cold  climate,  and  of  maintaining  the  desired 
standard  of  cleanliness  in  a  place  where  labor  is  dear 
and  dirt  abundant,  should  be  brought  out  by  concrete 
illustration. 

The  teacher  will  find  an  excellent  model  in  "A  Hand- 
book for  the  Housekeepers  of  Chicago,"  pages  16-28. 

Require  only  those  things  to  be  done  which  are 
practicable. 

EXERCISE    IN    PREVENTION    OF   DECAY — ANTISEPTICS 

Treat  small  bits  of  meat  in  test  tubes,  in  salt,  alcohol, 
smoke,  borax,  formaldehyde. 

EXERCISE  IN  DISINFECTION — STOPPAGE  OF  DECAY  ALREADY 
BEGUN,   SO  THAT   NO  FURTHER   HARM    MAY   COME 

Treat  beef  broth  which  has  been  allowed  to  spoil  in 
test  tubes,  or  small  flasks,  with  heat,  alcohol,  formalde- 
hyde (very  cautiously),  corrosive  sublimate,  sulpho- 
naphthol,  cresol,  etc.,  to  see  if  decay  is  really  stopped. 

EXERCISE  IN  DESTRUCTION  OF  ORGANIC  MATTER 

Put  a  thin  slice  of  meat,  say  l/$  inch  thick  anjd  l/2  inch 
wide,  i  inch  long,  into  a  thick  earthen  cup  in  the  middle 
of  a  layer  of  pounded  quicklime  i  inch  deep  under  and 
over  it.  The  cup  must  be  deep  enough  to  allow  the 
swelling  of  the  quicklime  as  it  slakes  and  must  be  set 
where  the  heating  will  do  no  harm ;  cover  and  leave  for 
a  week,  then  examine.  Repeat  with  copperas,  iron 
sulphate. 


CHAPTER  VJ 

IMMUNITY.       CONFIDENT    LIFE.       EUTHENICS 

"  If  our  corpuscles  are  weaker  than  the  invading  foes,  no 
drugs  can  save  us  —  we  are  doomed.  Hence  the  importance 
of  keeping  our  nerve  centers  well  charged  and  our  minute  life 
cells  in  vigorous  condition."  —  Sidney  H.  Beard. 

The  cultivation  of  sanitary  tastes  which  will  enable  us  in- 
stinctively to  avoid  unclean  air,  doubtful  food,  and  dirty  paths 
is  as  much  a  duty  as  the  cultivation  of  a  taste  for  beauty  in 
form  and  color. 

"  We  make  them  hope,  and  hope  is  health." 

—  B.  W.  Richardson. 

IN  every  community  some  persons  are  constantly  liable 
to  disease,  always  ailing,  while  others  go  through 
epidemics  unscathed.  Common  tradition  attributes  this 
immunity  to  some  mysterious  inherited  property,  just  as 
little  under  control  as  the  color  of  one's  hair  or  the  shape 
of  one's  nose. 

It  is  true  that  a  certain  set  of  tendencies  is  inherited 
and  that  care  in  infancy  is  of  extreme  importance  in  the 
development  of  physical  power ;  but  the  perfecting  of  the 
organization  lies  with  the  individual  himself,  chiefly  as  a 
result  of  the  habits  just  considered,  together  with  those 
concerned  more  intimately  with  the  individual  personal 
hygiene. 

To  be  perfectly  well  is  to  be  resistant  to  disease. 
But  the  strong  man  is  careless  and  may  drink  bad  water 


>j2  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

when  he  is  tired  or  chilled,  and  have  typhoid  fever ;  may 
eat  bad  food,  and  be  poisoned  with  ptomaines;  may  be 
sweated  in  bad  air,  and  come  down  with  pneumonia. 
These  things  the  person  sensitive  to  sanitary  conditions 
will  avoid,  when  one  who  takes  no  notice  will  not. 

There  is  personal  immunity,  good  physical  condition ; 
and  mass  immunity,  good  sanitary  environment.  The 
first  is  an  individual  matter,  the  second  a  collective  social 
affair  to  be  promoted  by  a  consensus  of  opinion. 

Fear  is  one  of  the  most  frequent  causes  of  illness. 
Confidence  in  one's  surroundings,  in  one's  own  good  con- 
dition, is  half  the  battle.  How  can  one  have  confidence 
when  the  senses  are  offended  at  every  step,  in  every  hall 
and  shop  and  car?  How  can  one  gain  strength  from 
food  served  in  unclean  vessels  on  unclean  tables  in 
rooms  swarming  with  flies? 

All  conditions  should  be  made  right  and  then  no.  one 
should  worry. 

Whatever  may  be  the  ultimate  cause  of  immunity — 
whether  the  care  of  the  body-soldiers  of  defense,  the 
phagocytes,  or  whether  it  be  opsonins,  or  just  plain  good 
blood — to  feel  fit  to  rise  in  the  morning,  ready  for  the 
day's  work,  without  headache,  with  energy  waiting  to  be 
used — that  is  confident  life,  that  is  the  surest  condition 
of  immunity.  A  happy  life  enjoyment  in  work,  whatever 
it  may  be,  is  the  best  safeguard  against  disease. 

Proper  diet  belongs  under  personal  hygiene,  but  com- 
munistic living  may  well  come  under  the  head  of  sani- 
tation. It  needs  inspection  and  demands  the  services  of 
an  educated  person. 

In  fact,  the  taking  of  food  is  as  much  a  regulated 


Immunity.     Confident  Life.     Euthenics  73 

process  -as  breathing  or  drinking.  Life  processes  cannot 
go  on  without  heat ;  and  the  union  of  the  oxygen  breathed 
in  with  the  air,  joined  to  food  stuffs  eaten  and  digested, 
furnishes  this  heat  as  well  as  energy  for  work. 

It  is  not,  then,  a  matter  of  whim,  or  of  like  or  dislike. 
Each  one  of  us  must  eat  to  live,  to  work  or  play,  and  the 
less  we  think  about  what  we  eat  the  better,  provided  that 
we  start  with  good  habits,  or  that  some  one  who  knows 
the  right  food  sets  it  before  us. 

The  boy  or  girl  who  expects  to  travel,  to  move  about 
and  see  the  world,  should  learn  to  eat  all  wholesome 
foods.  One  of  the  best  assets  in  the  Bank  of  Health  is  a 
strong  appetite  and  a  non-squeamish  stomach.  This  or- 
gan can  be  strengthened  or  weakened  like  any  other ;  like 
an  arm,  or  the  heart,  it  is  susceptible  to  mental  influences. 
That  is  why  food  comes  into  sanitation.  It  is  as  impor- 
tant to  have  right  ideas  on  food  as  on  air,  for  only  then 
will  sufficient  effort  be  made  to  get  the  right  kind  and  to 
have  it  clean  and  free  from  objection. 

Market  inspection  of  the  strictest  sort  should  be  de- 
manded in  every  state  or  city.  The  buyer  cannot  give 
the  time  to  study  with  reagents  and  microscopes  the 
bread  and  meat  he  purchases.  Inspection  is  part  of  the 
city  expense  for  which  the  individual  householder  pays 
taxes. 

But  in  order  not  to  make  this  an  intolerable  burden, 
each  one  should  refrain  from  adding  to  the  danger.  The 
excrement  or  flesh  of  infected  animals  infects  others, 
therefore  the  first  law  of  sanitation  is  here  also  applica- 
ble— disposal  of  waste  matter  so  that  it  will  not  infect 
others.  We  have  yet  to  learn  that  this  must  be  thor- 


74  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

oughly  done.  All  diseased  meat  should  be  steam  treated 
and  the  excrement  from  diseased  animals  sterilized. 
These  dangers  will  come  in  country  towns  rather  than  in 
cities,  for  the  countryman  is  obliged  to  look  after  his  own 
premises. 

Fruit  is  praised  as  most  healthful  food,  but  the  half 
green  or  half  decayed  stuff  exposed  for  sale,  especially 
in  the  country  village,  a  little  out  from  cities,  should  be 
buried  out  of  sight  rather  than  eaten.  As  in  all  the  other 
subjects  treated,  standards  should  be  learned  so  that  it 
will  be  easy  to  avoid  the  dangerous  product.  Standard 
quality  will  of  course  have  its  price,  but  will  be  better 
worth  it.  In  cities  much  sickness  comes  from  eating 
decayed  fruit  and  dirty  fruit. 

Avoid  taking  a  winter  diet  in  summer.  First,  because 
it  is  needless  to  force  the  body  to  manufacture  heat  to 
throw  off  by  water  (evaporated  perspiration)  ;  second, 
because  much  of  the  food  becomes  uncertain,  if  not  dan- 
gerous, in  quality  during  the  hot,  damp  weather.  All 
foods  decay  more  quickly  under  such  conditions.  Left- 
overs may  be  unsafe  and  all  minces  and  croquettes  are  to 
be  looked  upon  with  suspicion  in  the  ordinary  restaurant 
and  boarding  house,  especially  in  hot  weather.  Even 
milk  is  subject  to  the  same  suspicion.  In  fact,  it  is  today 
one  of  the  most  difficult  viands  to  secure  in  excellent 
condition. 

Sanitation  in  relation  to  food  deals  first  with  whole- 
some and  clean  materials — meat  from  animals  free  from 
disease,  fruit  and  vegetables  free  from  decay,  milk,  butter, 
etc.,  free  from  contained  bacteria.  The  dangers  are  the 
transference  to  the  human  body  of  encysted  organisms 


Immunity.     Confident  Life.     Enthenics  75 

like  trichina,  of  the  absorption  of  poisonous  substances, 
toxins,  ptomaines ;  of  the  lodgment  of  germs  of  disease 
along  with  dust  on  berries,  rough  peach  skins,  crushed 
open  fruits ;  of  the  dirt  clinging  to  lettuce,  celery,  and 
such  vegetables  as  are  eaten  raw. 

For  the  next  class  of  dangers,  we  turn  to  the  handling 
of  foods  with  unclean  hands,  or  the  dripping  of  infected 
matter  over  clean  clams  or  oysters. 

It  is  a  safe  precaution  to  patronize  only  those  restau- 
rants in  which  the  waiters  are  evidently  trained  to  handle 
the  food  and  vessels  with  care.  The  mouth  habit  is  so 
universal  that  it  will  take  years  of  calling  attention  to  it 
before  girls  can  be  broken  of  the  habit  of  wetting  their 
fingers  and  smoothing  their  hair.  Not  even  the  waitress' 
cap  can  prevent  this  very  unsanitary  habit.  Boys  have  a 
correspondingly  bad  habit  of  wiping  their  hands  on  their 
trousers. 

In  these  and  countless  other  ways  disease  is  mysteri- 
ously spread,  all  due  to  uncleanly  habits.  It  will  pay  well 
to  take  care  of  one's  hands  and  learn  sanitary  habits  when 
one  is  young,  then  one  will  do  right  without  effort. 
Whatever  change  of  ideas  may  come  with  increase  of 
knowledge,  these  habits  will  not  need  to  be  unlearned. 
Without  knowing  the  reasons,  they  have  been  proclaimed 
in  civilized  lands. 

All  evils  and  dangers  cannot  be  eliminated,  therefore 
we  cultivate  immunity,  not  carelessness,  but  that  degree 
of  good  blood  which  can  easily  care  for  stray  germs  that 
get  in.  This  good  blood  cannot  be  made  without  good 
air.  Good  food  is  necessary,  but  oxygen  is  essential,  and 
for  this  reason  air  comes  first  in  the  study  of  the  means 
for  the  best  of  health. 


^6  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

We  have  one  very  bad  habit  which  comes  from  an 
erroneous  notion — the  habit  of  going  to  the  fire  or  put- 
ting on  more  clothes  if  we  feel  chilly. 

That  feeling  is  due  to  slow  circulation  of  the  blood, 
often  because  it  has  become  too  thick  or  too  loaded  with 
waste  products.  The  remedy  is  a  glass  of  hot  water  or  a 
little  brisk  exercise;  usually  both  are  best. 

If  chilly,  do  not  eat  until  warmed  by  a  brisk  walk 
about  the  square,  or  by  light  gymnastics.  Every  one 
should  be  trained  to  do  three-minute  exercises  to  start 
the  circulation,  "appetite  exercise,"  it  may  be  called.  One 
or  two  glasses  of  water  as  hot  as  can  be  taken,  plain 
water  is  best,  colored  by  tea  may  serve,  or  hot  milk  may 
be  taken  if  some  time  before  a  meal.  It  is  the  quick- 
ened circulation  that  is  of  value,  to  bring  enough  oxygen 
to  the  food  to  be  used. 

There  is  one  phase  of  immunity  which  it  is  well  for 
the  teacher  to  keep  in  mind — that  of  inoculation,  as  for 
smallpox,  by  vaccination.  There  seems  to  be  a  sort  of 
self-inoculation  which  prevents  further  trouble,  as  in  the 
case  of  ordinary  mosquito  or  flea  bites.  The  first  few 
days  many  persons  suffer  greatly,  but  soon  become  im- 
mune. Whether  the  blood  develops  an  antitoxin  or 
what  happens  is  not  certainly  known.  We  become  accus- 
tomed to  certain  conditions,  and  so  tolerate  them,  but 
this  belongs  to  another  department  and  is  only  mentioned 
here  because  this  indifference  of  some  people  living  under 
the  same  conditions  as  others  who  are  sensitive  is  often 
a  strong  argument  brought  up  against  all  sanitary  meas- 
ures intended  to  include  the  community. 

We  were  not  poisoned  by  the  water,  or  by  the  flies ; 


Immunity.     Confident  Life.    Euthenics  77 

why  should  we  clean  up  so  that  these  strangers  can  live 
here? 

Communities  have  accepted  a  degenerate  life  and  laid 
it  to  the  climate,  when  it  is  now  known  to  be  caused  by 
some  parasite,  as  the  famous  hook  worm  disease  in  the 
South  and  in  tropical  regions.  The  people  lived  a  bare 
existence  because  of  the  prey  of  the  disease,  and  went  on 
scattering  it  wherever  they  went.  Luckily  they  were  not 
great  travelers. 

Rules  of  Safety 

Since  diseases  are  most  frequently  conveyed  by  actual 
contact  with  persons  or  with  fresh  body  wastes,  sputum, 
excreta,  etc.,  it  is  safest  to  treat  all  body  wastes  as  pos- 
sibly dangerous,  to  avoid  contact  with  them,  and  to  dis- 
pose of  them  as  soon  and  as  completely  as  possible. 
Town  authorities  should  demand  isolation  of  all  infec- 
tious cases. 

Since  dust  in  the  air  is  always  irritating  to  the  deli- 
cate mucous  membrane  of  nose,  throat,  and  lungs,  and 
thus  is  a  cause  of  receptive  condition  for  attack ;  and 
since  objectionable  organisms  are  frequently  carried  with 
other  particles  in  the  form  of  dust,  it  is  safest  to  dispense 
with  dust. 

Since  dust  on  furniture  and  floors  is  harmless  so  long 
as  undisturbed,  it  is  safest  to  remove  it  without  sending 
it  into  the  air  to  be  breathed  again.  A  dampened  cloth 
should  wipe  it  up,  not  a  feather  duster  or  dry  cloth,  sure 
to  distribute  it  into  the  air  again. 

Since  water  and  milk  are  frequent  carriers  of  disease, 
both  should  be  under  sanitary  control,  and  the  com- 
munity should  pay  cheerfully  the  price  of  clean  supplies. 


78  Sanitation  in  Daily  Life 

Since  produce  is  brought  from  long  distances  and  ex- 
posed for  considerable  time,  markets  should  be  under 
careful  inspection  and  buyers  should  inform  themselves 
in  fegard  to  the  cleanliness  and  care  with  which  all  food 
materials  are  stored  and  handled.  This  will  apply  to 
one's  own  kitchen  and  pantry. 

Since  all  wastes  may  harbor  unpleasant  and  possibly 
dangerous  agents  of  decay,  they  should  be  completely 
disposed  of  as  soon  as  possible;  not  redistributed  in 
small  quantities,  but  burned  or  buried  beyond  recovery 
by  prowling  curs  or  rats. 

Since  the  best  preventives  of  germ  growth  are  sun- 
light or  cold  below  55°,  secure  as  much  of  the  first  as 
possible,  and  keep  all  perishable  foods  below  this  tem- 
perature until  cooked. 

Remember,  sanitation  is  prevention,  not  cure.  Clean- 
liness is  absence  of  smells,  not  addition  of  a  strong  and 
pleasant  one  to  an  unpleasant  one. 

A  healthy  body,  trained  by  all  the  rules  of  hygiene, 
may  pass  safely  through  the  worst  conditions,  while  a 
body  weakened  by  self-indulgences  will  succumb  at  the 
first  exposure. 


A   FEW   REFERENCE  BOOKS 

Climate  and  Health  in  Hot  Countries.     G.  M.  J.  Giles. 

Mosquitoes.     L.  O.  Howard. 

Household  Bacteriology.     S.  M.  Elliott. 

Principles  of  Sanitary  Science  and  the  Public  Health.     W.  T.  Sedgwick. 

Street  Cleaning  and  Disposal  of  the  City's  Waste.     G.  E.  Waring,  Jr. 

Garbage  Crematories  in  America.     W.  M.  Venable. 

Home  Sanitation.     Richards  and  Talbot.    ' 

Sanitary  and  Applied  Chemistry.     E.  H.  S.  Bailey. 

Care  of  a  House.     T.  M.  Clark. 

Laws:  See  State  Digests  or  Bulletins. 

The  Human  Mechanism.     Hough  and  Sedgwick. 

Personal  Hygiene.     Maurice  LeBosquet. 

Personal  Hygiene.     A.  A.  Woodhull. 

Health,  Strength  and  Power.     D.  A.  Sargent. 

The  Efficient  Life.     Luther  Gulick. 


These  and  other  books  on  these  subjects  may  be  obtained  from  Whitcomb  & 
Barrows,  Boston. 


79 


INDEX 


Air,  viii,  9,  24,  26,  27,  29,  75 

Current,  Tests,  37 

Experiments,  37 

American  Public  Health  Associa- 
tion, 7 
Antiseptics,  70 

Belief,  Habits  of,  vii 
Board  of  Health,  20,  63,  69 
Bulletins,  Health  and  Sanitary,  63, 
64 

Carbon  dioxide,  24 

Testing  for,  38-42 
Chemicals,  3 
City,  The  Clean,  9-24 
Civic  Pride,  17 
Clean,  2,  3 

Clothes,  37 

Fingers,  36,  51 

Hands,  3,  5,  56 

House,  24-47 

Milk,  1 8,  19 

Water,  35 

Cleanliness,  Habits  of,  47-50 
Cleanness,  i,  5 
Climate,  v,  10,  70 
Clothes,  3,  37,  54,  55 
Cold,  9 

Colonies,  Dust,  4,  6 
Community,  v,  1 1 

Control,  10 

Life,  9 

Confident  Life,  71-78 
Conscience,  Social,  10 
Contagion,  I 
Cooperation,  v 
Cremation,  10,  15 
Cremation  of  Garbage,  20 

Daily  Life,  Sanitation  in,  v 
Dampened  Duster,  4,  5,  55 
Dampened  Sawdust,  56 
Dew-Point,  31 


Dirt,  I,  23,  48,  75 

Disease,  2,  9,  71 

Dumont,  M.  Leon,  50 

Dust,  2,  9,  ii,  26,  33,61,  75,  77 

Experiments,  3-8,  55 
Duster,  Dampened,  4,  5,  55 

Ecology,  v 
Education,  62,  66 
Efficiency,  v,  vi 
Elliott,  8 

Environment,  v,  vi,  vii,  10 
Euthenics,  71-78 

Experiments,   3-8,   20-23,  37~4^» 
55-58,  68-70 

Fit,  Physically,  vii 

Fitness,  vii 

Fleas,  67 

Flies,  62,  63,  67,  72,  76 

Food,  viii,  74 

Garbage,  v,  n,  13,  21,  68 
Germs,  2,  6,  9,  48 

Habits,  vii,  viii,  28,  47,  49,  50,  51, 

52>  53.  75.  76 
Health,  v,  vi,  vii,  47 
Health  Education  League,  66 
"  Health,  Strength  and  Power,"  vi 
Healthy  Body,  vi 
Housekeeping,  Family,  v 

Municipal,  v 
Humidity,  28,  30,  42 

Table  of,  32 

Ice  Cream,  17 
Immunity,  71-78 
Individual,  v 
Inspection,  61,  68,  73 
Inspector,  vii 


81 


James's  Psychology,  50 


82 


Index 


Law,  60,  66 

of  Sanitation,  vii,  viii,  2 
Leach,  23 
Lord  Derby,  68 

Malaria,  10 

"  Mankind  in  the  Making,"  vi 

Microbes,  i,  48 

Milk,  Changes  in,  22 

Clean,  17-19,  65,  77 
Mosquito,  u,  20,  67 
Municipal  Housekeeping,  v 

National  League,  68 
Neighbor,  vii,  10 
Norton,  Prof.  J.  Pease,  65 

Occupation,  vi 
Organisms,  I,  2,  4 

Parks,  II,  12 
Partial  Death  Rate,  26 
Pathways,  11,  12 
Peppermint  Test,  38 
Petri  Dishes,  3,  5,  6,  22 
Physically  Fit,  vii 

Unfit,  vi 

Plants  in  the  House,  33 
Prescott  &  Winslow,  7 
Prevention,  16 
Prologue,  v 

Public  Health  Work,  63,  64 
Public  Opinion,  9 

Richardson,  Benjamin  Ward,  9 
Rubbish,  n,  67,  68 


Rules  of  Conduct,  69 
Rules  of  Safety,  77 

Sanitary,  v,  3,  1 1 

Regulations,  v,  n,  50-71 

Science,  v 

Teaching,  viii 
Sanitation,  v,  i,  2,  3,  10,  78 

First  Law  of,  vii,  2 

in  Daily  Life,  v 

in  relation  to  Food,  74 

Second  Law  of,  viii 
Sargent,  D.  A.,  v,  i 
Science,  v,  3 
Sewage,  14 
Skin,  i 

Social  Conscience,  10 
Spit,  i,  53 
Spitting,  vii 
Standards,  n 
Subway,  New  York,  9 
Sweepings,  14 

Tenements,  vi 

Tetanus,  21 

Thermometers,  30 

Three  Essentials  for  Life,  25 

Tuberculosis,  i,  25 

Unfit,  Physically,  vi 

Wastes,  vii,  2,  10,  12,  13,  14,  15, 

1 6,  53,  78 

Water,  viii,  34,  35,  36,  42-46,  77 
Wells,  H.  G.,  vi,  i 

Yellow  Fever,  10,  II 


UNIVERS.TYOFCAL.F0BN.AUBRA«Y 
Lo»  Angelet 


•    •  ••  •  I  I  I II  I  III  |||[ 

A  000  034  829  2 
ELLEN  M,  BARTliTt 

Supervisor  Home 


University 

Southei 

Librar 


